AI Leadership Requires Energy Dominance
Artificial intelligence could be the next major frontier of American innovation, but behind the excitement lies a growing issue. AI data centers are straining local resources and increasing energy costs — and politicians don’t want to talk about it.
Power The Future’s Executive Director, Daniel Turner, recently spoke with Shawn Fleetwood at The Federalist about the growth of AI and data centers and what it means for American energy.
“The surge in electricity consumption is like nothing we have ever seen before,” Turner said. “We have just begun to scratch the surface.”
AI data centers use about 8 times as much electricity as traditional data centers. This extra demand is already putting pressure on local grids. In Virginia, electricity bills are expected to increase by up to 25% by 2030 due to rising demand from these facilities.
Turner compares the situation to a town approving hundreds of new homes without expanding the roads or schools. Residents are left with an overwhelmed infrastructure, higher costs, and little accountability from the officials who approved the projects. These concerns aren’t new. Our May report warned that without a national strategy linking AI expansion to reliable energy production, communities would face the same issues: higher utility bills and strained grids.
“Citing recommendations from a May 2025 Power the Future report, Turner said one of the “first” things the Trump administration should do is focus on reopening all of the fossil fuel plants, mines, and projects “turned off by the Biden administration” to increase the supply of energy. “The second thing,” he noted, is to develop a national plan that focuses on moving AI data center development from urban areas to remote ones frequented with abundant energy sources.”
“You can build a data center anywhere. Why are we not building them on the north slope of Alaska where there is tons of natural gas, tons of water, tons of land? … Why are we not building them on the Permian Basin where there’s so much natural gas [that] we flare it [and are] literally lighting it on fire because we can’t build pipelines fast enough to capture it and sell it?” Turner said. “We seem to be building these data centers where our elected officials want to cut ribbons and have glorious ceremonies, but that doesn’t help the community.”
The fact is, AI can strengthen America, but only if our leaders acknowledge the energy reality behind it.
December 9, 2025