Energy Insecurity: America Should Be OK, the Rest of the World Not Really

S. A. Shelley: In a recent article in The Telegraph, Norway is a Cautionary Tale, the author argues that Europe as a whole has made itself energy insecure because of adding renewables to the energy mix. I agree somewhat mostly with that conclusion about energy insecurity, but I do not agree that this is because of renewables. It is true that the wind doesn’t always blow and that the sun doesn’t always shine. But, over time, technologies will arise that can compensate for such variance. Thus, I believe that the energy insecurity in which most Western states find themselves is a result of the mad dash to renewables foisted upon us by somewhat well meaning, but technically and fiscally clueless politicians (a common refrain of OWOE staff). Politicians always promise things faster than can be delivered by reality. Politicians have put us into this precarious position by building wind farms without sufficient energy storage or grid improvements to support such a rapid build out.

One of the things that people overlook about fossil fuels is that they are a transportable, highly dense form of chemical energy storage. Something similar needs to be found for renewables. We need some good, efficient, reliable and cheap technologies that allow us to store and transfer renewable energy across time (day / night, wind blowing / not blowing) and geography (maybe trains?). Until such inherent energy storage technologies are available for renewables, it makes no sense to continue the unabated dash into massive developments while simultaneously de-commissioning legacy, stable power systems. Europe and Canada face significant trouble; America less so.

But, and there’s always a but, America is suddenly planning a rapid expansion into AI technology and associated data centers. In Ireland, data centers are projected to consume about 32% of all power generated in that tiny nation by next year. In America, data centers are already consuming about 2% of all electrical power generated. Some more activist bloggers argue that AI is not the panacea for the modern world, and is instead one of the greatest emerging threats to climate. The explosion of AI and its associated energy demand will result in more frequent rolling brown outs, a reduction of electricity available for other industry or, worse yet, the re-opening of coal fired power plants.

If society had remained at pre-digital technology, we’d have thousands fewer distracted driver deaths , fewer teens with mental health issues and much lower GHG emissions. It is doubtful though that we can now wean anyone off Tik Tok or chat GPT and back to reading a book or having a pleasant vis-a-vis conversation.

In America we are racing to exceed our power capacity without making it robust and plentiful first. America’s power grid is already at capacity with some analysts characterizing it as underbuilt and overburdened. When the TVA system was kicked off last century, it brought an abundant oversupply of energy that allowed industrial expansion in the Midwest and South to follow. This is a lesson that politicians have forgotten. One needs a stable, surplus of energy to feed an industry, physical or digital: it doesn’t work the other way around.

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