U.S. faces electricity challenge as AI energy demand soars
By : Chip Minty//The Journal Record//September 25, 2025
"They say that artificial intelligence (AI) will be the most transformative technological development ever. Pick any revolutionary advancement you can think of — the Internet, smartphones, air travel, automobiles, the conveyor belt. You can go back as far as fire itself, and experts say AI has a chance to outshine them all.
"As a consequence, there’s an international winner-take-all race to supremacy underway that involves the United States, China and Europe, and the victor stands to emerge at the top of the world’s economic pecking order.
"Much is at stake as industry and institutions are ramping up microchip production, data center construction and educational programs customized to a new AI economy. But behind the billions of dollars in technology infrastructure investment, policymakers and industry visionaries still don’t know if the United States will have enough electricity available to feed the AI behemoth once it reaches maturity.
"No one is quite sure how much more electricity the United States will need, but estimates suggest the nation’s emerging AI machine could demand 60 gigawatts or more within the next couple of years. That volume far exceeds the needs of major U.S. cities, such as New York.
"Adding that much power to the grid will be no small undertaking, experts say, especially for a nation that has focused the last quarter century on a clean energy transition that still is looking for traction. Wind and solar energy can play a role, but inconsistent production limits their ability to meet spikes in power demand.
"So, what’s left? No one is talking about coal. That leaves #NaturalGas to carry the burden. And then there’s #nuclear, an emerging darling of the power industry, winning bipartisan support from policymakers who are now willing to set aside the 1979 #ThreeMileIsland disaster, which practically paralyzed the industry for decades.
"The Oklahoma City-based Hamm Institute for American Energy has made the issue one of its core concerns, bringing leaders together from across the United States and from key international trading partners, such as Japan and South Korea.
" 'The United States has the resources it needs. What it lacks is speed, certainty and alignment,' said Ann Bluntzer Pullin, executive director of the Hamm Institute.
'This initiative is about turning urgency into action so that America and its allies can lead in both energy and AI.'
'" I feel like you’ve got these two giants, the tech industry and the energy industry at this unbelievable moment in time where they can both rise to the occasion and literally move society forward in a way where everyone’s quality of life goes up,' she told leaders at a recent roundtable event.
"There’s a growing number of AI systems housed in an expanding network of data centers, which store, process and manage critical data and their applications. The giant facilities’ large assemblies of servers, storage drives and other hardware are known for their enormous appetite for electricity."
Read more / listen:
https://journalrecord.com/2025/09/25/ai-energy-demand-us-power-challenges/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/VKXi7
#NoNukesForAI #NoNukesForDatacenters #FossilFuels #NuclearPlants #WaterIsLife #LandIsLife #CorporateGreed
