For centuries, energy has been a highly valuable resource that has fostered human flourishing and increased prosperity.
During the Industrial Revolution, for instance, the advent of the steam engine, which used coal as fuel, fundamentally changed transportation and agriculture. Steam ships and railroads made travel faster, cheaper, and more accessible to the masses. Crop yields increased as farming became more efficient, which allowed people to move to cities with street lighting provided by coal gas. Factories were built, creating jobs that made goods widely available and more affordable.
Could this have occurred without the use of coal as a primary fuel source? Perhaps, but it would have taken place on a much longer time scale, if ever. Remember, before the invention of the steam engine, transportation by ship relied on the wind and farmers relied on beasts of burden.
The point is that energy, whether it is in the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas, nuclear, etc., is absolutely essential to modern society.
This is especially true today, as the world enters the AI era.
In recent years, great strides have been made in the artificial intelligence realm. But we are merely at the beginning of this unfolding societal transformation.
AI could make the Industrial Revolution look like a blip on the historical record. It could fundamentally change the world, hopefully for the better.
As of now, the United States is in the early stages of what many call an AI arms race. To date, our primary competition comes from China. In 2017, China launched the “New Generation AI Development Plan,” which aims to make China the undisputed global leader in AI by 2030.
Since 2017, China has gone on a coal power plant building spree the likes of which the world has never witnessed. “China is building six times more new coal plants than other countries,” NPR reported in 2023.
The reason China is going gangbusters on coal plants is because AI, and the data centers it requires, needs a ton of energy.
According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “From 2005 to 2017, the amount of electricity going to data centers remained quite flat thanks to increases in efficiency, despite the construction of armies of new data centers to serve the rise of cloud-based online services, from Facebook to Netflix. In 2017, AI began to change everything. Data centers started getting built with energy-intensive hardware designed for AI, which led them to double their electricity consumption by 2023. The latest reports show that 4.4% of all the energy in the US now goes toward data centers.”
While China relies on coal power plants to fuel its AI infrastructure, the United States has more options at its disposal.
Unlike China, the United States is blessed with abundant natural gas deposits. Clean-burning natural gas is a perfect fit to meet the immense rise in energy demand that is coming soon.
A few days ago, Sen. Dave McCormick hosted the inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, which sought to “showcase Pennsylvania’s incredible potential to power the AI revolution and create opportunities for Pennsylvanians.”
McCormick says Pennsylvania’s “abundant energy sector” ensures the Commonwealth will be a key player in the U.S. AI effort.
“Pennsylvania is a leading East Coast supplier of natural gas, coal, refined petroleum products, and electricity to the nation,” says the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Louisiana is also all-in on the AI energy sweepstakes. Last month, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry signed the Affordable, Reliable, Clean Energy Security Act into law. Among other things, the law correctly defines natural gas as a clean source of energy.
“Louisiana ranks third highest in marketed natural gas production and seventh in proved natural gas reserves among the states,” per the EIA.
In “Affordable, Reliable, and Clean: An Objective Scorecard to Assess Competing Energy Sources,” Heartland Institute President James Taylor notes, “Affordable, reliable, and clean are the foundational elements of sound energy policy. An in-depth analysis of seven common electrical power sources reveals that natural gas makes the most sense according to the affordable, reliable, and clean standard, with nuclear, hydro, and coal not far behind. Biomass trails by a moderate margin while wind and solar stand apart as the least desirable power sources.”
The AI era isn’t coming; it is already here. As such, the United States must make sound energy policy a national priority. Fortunately, President Trump understands the magnitude of what is at stake.
In no uncertain terms, Trump has said he will do everything he can to achieve what he calls U.S. energy dominance. So far, the Trump administration is delivering on this promise. But the administration cannot do this on its own; it will need partners in the states.
So far, Pennsylvania and Louisiana have stepped up to the plate. It would be wise for more states to embrace this forward-looking agenda while terminating their failed, backwards green transitions.
Chris Talgo (ctalgo@heartland.org) is editorial director at The Heartland Institute.