America Can’t Win the AI Race on Wind and Solar Power
This week, Power the Future released its latest report, Rocket Fuel for America’s AI Moonshot, laying out a clear warning: if the U.S. wants to win the global artificial intelligence race against China, it needs reliable, abundant energy. And that means tapping into America’s own existing natural gas and coal, not doubling down on failed green fantasies and manufactured artificial energy sources.
As PTF Founder Daniel Turner told Fox Business, “Our current grid can’t sustain where we are, and yet on top of it, they’re adding this AI layer, which will require three to four times more electricity.” It’s not a talking point… it’s math. And if we refuse to meet this moment, we will hand the future of AGI (artificial general intelligence) to a Chinese regime that powers its breakthroughs with coal while telling the rest of the world to go green.
From the report:
“If the United States does not get serious about developing the energy resources needed to win the breakout AGI Race, it will see itself marginalized both in terms of economic and national security… In a cruel irony, it may find itself dependent upon the economies of China — with which it is currently locked in hegemonic economic and geopolitical competition.”
This isn’t just a power grid problem. It’s a sovereignty problem. The demand from AI data centers is already exploding, with 25% of Virginia’s electricity going to datacenters today and forecasted to nearly double. Microsoft and others are scrambling to secure fossil power even as they publicly pledge carbon neutrality.
AI is a 21st-century moonshot, and one very much in progress. But no country ever got to the moon on solar panels and dreams. Just as we relied on rocket fuel then, we must rely on American energy now.
PTF’s report calls for:
- Restarting natural gas and coal plants to power AI clusters.
- Overhauling permitting to unleash infrastructure projects.
- Ending market-distorting subsidies that artificially prop up unreliable renewables.
- Prioritizing baseload power, not political points.
Let’s stop pretending green ideology can win a real-world arms race. Only energy dominance will.
May 15, 2025