Blackouts in the U.S. May Be 100 Times More Frequent By 2030

The energy you use to brew your coffee, power your laptop, or watch TV was generated milliseconds ago through one (or a combination) of various sources—including coal, natural gas, wind, solar, and nuclear—and delivered to you through the engineering marvel known as the U.S. electric grid. And since the grid’s humble beginnings in the late 19th century, it’s grown into the largest machine in the world capable of powering hundreds of millions of homes.

But the era of climate change—as is true with many other facets of modern life—is challenging the grid in unprecedented ways. Transitioning to green energy sources is a delicate balance, and if you shut down the use of traditional fossil fuels without a plan to replace them, then shortages become unavoidable. Additionally, over the course of the last several years, the power grid has acquired a new and extremely heavy burden: AI data centers.

Those challenges, it seems, may be about to make themselves extremely well-known. According to a recent report from the United States Department of Energy (DOE), if nothing changes in the existing plan to generate and supply power to our grid, our risk of power outage will be 100 times higher by 2030 (which is now just four years away).