Coal Is Still Energy King
There has been a false sense of security about the future of coal in the US. The most poisonous polluter, perhaps in history, was supposed to be phased out. It turns out that was only partially true.
A False View Of The Future
“In the last year or so, several larger utilities have backslid off emissions-reductions targets and, more specifically, retirement dates for some coal units,” said David Pomerantz, executive director of the Energy and Policy Institute, a research and advocacy group” according to the New York Times. The paper also pointed out that these plants are expensive to run.
The problem, it turns out, is simple. Forecasts of energy use in the US were wrong. Electricity use has been fairly flat for a decade. AI server farms have changed that.
AI Has Made The Difference
Alternative energy installations will not be online fast enough to solve the US electricity problem. This is true even though the world’s largest tech companies and private interests are spending billions for their own energy sources and creating their own grids.
AI is hungry now, and coal is all that’s available.
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