Artificial intelligence centers are springing up all over the United States, in Europe and elsewhere, and it's becoming well known that they have almost-insatiable thirsts for power-- one reason electricity bills are rising.
That's already becoming a problem, but it's not the only difficulty the US power grid is seeing in mid-2025.
The first problem is inflation, which was tamed but isn't beaten and has continued for years.
As electricity generators and retailers buy new equipment, they spend more because costs have gone up.
Work is being done to help the fast-growing demand for electricity in an attempt to keep consumer electricity costs down, but progress is slow and inflation is a little faster..
Climate Depot Executive Editor Marc Murano says oil and gas markets are increasing in market values and production is up..
"Record oil and gas production, highest levels ever recorded, this American energy dominance, this is what Americans voted for."
And while it remains to be seen if all the many AI data centers that are talked about and permitted and even ready for blueprints actually make it to the building stage, there's no doubt that added to the proliferating bitcoin mining centers, AI will be draining electricity at record rates soon.
And you might be surprised who and what is benefitting from the new tech.
"Ameria's massively investing, the Department of Defense, we're talking hundreds of billions of dollars, all to get artificial intelligence technology and data centers, and as natural gas increases there should be increases in available gas for electricity generation.
And the other problem right now? Unreliable renewables.
"You have BlackRock's Larry Fink openly admitting that solar and wind couldn't possibly power the AI power demand because they're intermittent and weak energy sources.
"I mean, they're admitting this in the face of AI."