Power demand in the United States is increasing rapidly. Although energy production is at an all time high in the United States, it still isn’t enough to match future demand. The country will need to find new ways to produce and distribute energy, as failing to meet demand will result in significant problems. In order to boost production and efficiency, the United States will need to update its aging infrastructure, explore alternative energy sources and work with US-based suppliers.
By 2050, experts predict that energy demand in the US will be 50% higher than it is today. This will require at least 5,178 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy. For scale, 1 TWh is enough to power the internet for about 15 days, the state of California for 12.5 days or 100 million homes for 1 hour. In 2023, the United States used 4,409 TWh of energy. 37% of this energy was used by transportation, such as cars, buses, motorcycles, trains, aircraft and ships. 35% of the energy was used by industrial entities, such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining and construction. 15% was used in residential homes and apartments, and 13% was used in commercial settings, such as offices, malls, schools, hospitals, and hotels.
The increased reliance on energy is driven by several forces. For example, AI is a big player in the electrification of the United States; each AI server request requires roughly 8 watt-hours (Wh) of energy. This is the equivalent to an LED lightbulb, and is around 23-30x more energy than a normal internet search requires.
If every normal Google search becomes an LLM search, it will consume the same amount of electricity as Ireland does per year (29.3 TWh). This number will likely continue to grow; NVIDIA plans to ship 1.5 million AI server units annually by 2027. At full capacity, these servers would use 85.4 TWh of energy each year, and this doesn’t even include cooling costs. In order to keep remote AI servers cool, global data centers will add 50% to the energy costs.
Another factor that contributes to an increased reliance on electricity is the rise of electrical vehicles. Rapidly adopting electric vehicles could add an extra 100 TWh to 185 TWh to the United States’ electricity demand by 2030 alone.
If the United States does not meet its rising energy demand, key systems will suffer. For example, transportation would be impacted because fuel cannot be pumped on demand without energy. Communication networks could also be shut down, making it difficult to access information or contact loved ones. Supply chains and banking systems would be impacted, disrupting the distribution of food and medicine and limiting access to credit card scanners.
With this in mind, it is clear that the United States must keep up with energy demand. Unfortunately, there are several challenges along the way. For example, the current electrical grid is aging and inefficient, and will require significant updates. In fact, 70% of the nation’s transmission lines are 25+ years old and are approaching the end of their life. Similarly, roughly 55% of residential power transformers are reaching the end of their lifespans, with most being over 40 years old. Aging infrastructure can lead to power outages, susceptibility to cyber attacks and community emergencies.
Updating this infrastructure will be time-consuming and costly. The US electrical grid flows across more than 470,000 miles, which is enough to circle the globe 19 times. Additionally, equipment prices continue to increase, with transformers nearly doubling in price since 2019. Replacing the entire electric grid would cost close to $5 trillion.
Other challenges include long delays due to interconnection queues. These queues form when power-generating projects are waiting to be authorized. At the moment, there is 2.6 TWh of generating capacity sitting in interconnection queues across the nation. 80% of queued projects get withdrawn due to delays and costs.
With all of this context in mind, the question of how to move forward becomes pressing. One key strategy will be exploring alternative power sources, such as nuclear energy. The US government aims to quadruple its nuclear energy production by 2050, helping close the gap between demand and production.
Becoming more efficient is also vital. For example, speeding up interconnection queues could instantly double America’s existing power plants. Improving lead times and quality for important infrastructure equipment can make a big difference as well. Working with local suppliers helps in this regard; companies such as ELSCO have 90% item availability, 24-48 hour quick ship and a 5-year warranty. These factors can go a long way in replacing old infrastructure quickly.
Investing in energy production and infrastructure is key moving forward. It creates more support for clean energy, reduces power outages and helps drive economic growth. As power demand continues to grow in the United States, the country will need to focus on its energy systems to ensure that energy needs are met.
