New industries such as cryptocurrency and cannabis are boosting industry forecasts, straining efforts to cut emissions
Demand for power is soaring, creating a new energy crisis for the United States – one that could make the climate crisis even worse.
After more than 30 years of falling or flat demand for electricity, forecasts say the nation will need the equivalent of about 34 new nuclear plants, or 38 gigawatts, over the next five years to power data centers and manufacturing and electrify buildings and vehicles, according to filings made to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and compiled by Grid Strategies.
Since those filings, several utilities have said they will need even more power.
Georgia Power, which has more than 2.7 million customers, told regulators in 2022 it would need the equivalent of an extra single mid-sized power plant for the rest of the decade. But late last year, it said it will need 17 times more electricity – the equivalent of four new nuclear units – because of new data centers and manufacturing.
Growth of new manufacturing for things such as heat pumps and electric vehicles, spurred in part by the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate-change-mitigating provisions, has boosted plans to build power plants to burn methane, a fossil fuel also known as natural gas, or to delay closing coal plants.
This has always been THE catch-22 facing humanity, and people still don’t understand it. The amount of energy and raw minerals (mining) needed to transition away from fossil fuels at this point is so large, we’ll blow well past 2c just building an initial “stage 1” renewable/carbon neutral energy grid. Some studies indicate all known reserves of critical resources (e.g. copper, cobalt) aren’t enough to even complete stage 1.
ALWAYS REMEMBER, THOUGH! THE ONLY WAY TO SAVE THE PLANET IS TO CONSUME HARDER THAN YOU’VE EVER CONSUMED BEFORE!
