What are the factors that tighten the power grid?
We are moving from seeing electricity as a convenience to recognize it as a critical rescue. If the power goes out, we cannot access the Internet, empower our car or turn on AC if it is hot outside. Energy outages can lead to many unfavorable health results, including death. The US electricity demand is projected to increase by 9% by 2028 and 18% by 2033, driven by electrification, databases, artificial intelligence (AI), switching to electric vehicles (EV), growth extreme heat and enlargement of production. The US power network is under increasing strain from all perspectives due to the increase in demand for electricity, aging infrastructure and the challenges of integrating new energy technologies. This will have real impacts on the quality of life for American citizens.
Only it data centers can make up 44% of the increase in electricity load in the US from 2023 to 2028. By 2030, they are expected to make up 11-12% of total energy demand in the US from 3-4% today. Residential power prices are expected to increase from 15 cents/kWh in 2022 to an average of 16.7 cents/kWh in 2025, reflecting higher costs of demand and infrastructure.
The transition to EVS is currently not straining the US energy network significantly because most EV charges occur at night when the overall electricity demand is low, which helps in the balance of the network load. However, by 2035, EV intake is projected to require 3,360% more electricity, which can strain the network if not adequately managed.
High temperatures promote electricity consumption while people rely heavily on air conditioning. This can cause the demand to exceed the supply, especially during prolonged heat waves. Moreover, heat waves often coincide with other extreme weather conditions, creating numerous threats to network stability. The Central Climate Report stated that of all important US energy outages reported from 2000 to 2023, 80% (1,755) were due to weather. Energy loss during extreme heat can be threatening to life, especially for vulnerable populations that rely on cooling systems or medical equipment. Simultaneous heat waves and power outages can be more than double -related double mortality levels. For example, simulations in three American cities (Atlanta, Detroit and Phoenix) showed that 3% and 50% of the urban population may require medical attention during such events, depending on location and intensity. Considious groups, such as the elderly, individuals with existing conditions (eg, cardiovascular or respiratory disease), and those relying on medical equipment dependent on electricity, raised facial risks.
Wild fires can cause severe damage to the power grid and infrastructure, including the burning or destruction of wooden service rods and transmission and distribution damage lines. They also lead to widespread power outages in the affected areas. Wrong network equipment can light fires, as seen at Camp Fire 2018, the most expensive fire in US history.
The Public Safety Entity (Why) Healthy energy has designed the closure of public security (PSPs) across the country and found that PSPS interruptions have been concentrated on and around high -fire threat districts. These districts are regions where the California Public Services Commission, Calfire and others determined the service infrastructure is the most important risk of fire. The most important number of interruptions took place in southern California counties.
In this peer review paper, the authors found that out of 1,657 circles with reliable interruption data, 1,205 (72.7%) suffered an 8+ hour break that occurs with an individual severe weather event, and 904 (54.6%) with multiple simultaneous simultaneous events. The abnormal rainfall events co-centered with interruptions were the most common, affecting 1,170 (70.6%) circles. Recent incidents, like Wildfires in Los Angeles in January 2025, were preceded by an increase in power grid errors. The cycle of network failures that causes wild fires and causing more network failures creates a bad cycle that threatens a network’s consistency. Considering these factors, planning for an elastic network – the one that balances the increase in load, population health, cost and risk – will continue to include an increasing portion of renewable energy sources.
How much is the current energy network supporting fossil fuel combustion?
According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US power network still relies heavily on fossil fuel combustion. In 2023, about 60% of electricity in the US was created by fossil fuels, including coal, natural gas, oil and other gases, such as explosive gas, propane gas, and other gases produced and waste derived from fossil fuels. Natural gas also consists of methane, butane and propane. Moreover, other gases such as nitrogen and hydrogen sulfide may be included.
Natural gas was the most important contributor within this category; Renewable energy sources, including Hydro, accounted for 21% of electricity generation in 2023, while nuclear energy contributed 19%. It is worth noting that the most recent Short -term energy perspective From the EIA predictions of the US that the solar will increase 75% from 2023 – 2025. The wind and the sun are projected to lead the energy generation in the US for the next two years. This makes sense: Many sources of renewable energy can be faster to decide than commissioning and building a new power -driven power plant on fossil fuels, evidence that renewable will play a critical role in adapting growth of energy demand. This is also extremely true in the context of the nucleus.
It presents some challenges for decarbonizing the power grid.
It and the data centers have a considerable trace of carbon. In our latest study, we found that data centers accounted for more than 4% of total electricity consumption in the US – with 56% derived from fossil fuels – generating more than 105 million tons of carbon emissions. Geothermal power is seen as a great alternative to provide renovation energy.
In the context of the data centers, “Cloud” refers to a wide network of remote servers organized online to store, manage and process data than on local servers or personal computers. The cloud now has a more important trace of carbon than the airline industry. A single data center can consume electricity equivalent to 50,000 homes. Morgan Stanley predicts that the carbon center of the database will triple by 2030 due to it, releasing 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2.
The long -term benefits of decarbonizing the power grid are projected to exceed costs.
According to the latest studies and analysis, the decarbonization of the US energy network by 2035 represents considerable costs and essential benefits. The total costs of the additional energy system between 2023 and 2035 range from $ 330 billion to $ 740 billion in various scenarios that include the construction of new energy generation, transmission infrastructure and flexibility set by the network. However, health benefits from improved air quality can only save $ 390 billion to $ 400 billion, avoiding premature deaths. Factoring at risk avoided by climate events, the total net benefit to society ranges from $ 920 billion to $ 1.2 trillion.
As a summary, while the front costs are considerable, the long -term benefits of decarbonizing the power grid are projected to exceed the costs significantly. Innovative solutions that integrate databases with renewable energy resources and benefit local communities are emerging as a winning approach to address climate challenges while meeting increasing calculation requirements. For example, geothermal cooling systems can significantly reduce energy consumption in the database while providing efficiency throughout the year. Similarly, companies like Windcores are pioneering the concept of housing data centers within the wind turbines, reaching close to carbon neutrality and using previously lost energy. Solar energy integration offers the independence of the energy centers and cost predictability, with technology gigantic such as Google and Apple leading the road to solar -power facilities. These approaches not only solve the energy center energy needs, but can also benefit from the surrounding communities.