James_Jan-Feb_2026_web - Flipbook - Page 59
he future of electricity is being
discussed in
terms of how we
make it: whether
it should be generated by nuclear,
wind and solar or
by coal and natural gas.
Nuclear is favored by the utilities and the Trump administration,
but it will take decades and untold
billions of dollars to build up a
sizable nuclear fleet. The utility
companies that make and deliver
electricity favor what has been
described as “all of the above,”
weighted by regional resources
and state laws.
Twenty-three states and Washington, D.C., have zero-carbon
goals. Their laws say that by a certain date, carbon-emitting power
plants must be phased out.
The administration says turn
right, and the states say turn left.
But the nation can ill afford a debate over electricity supply.
America needs more electricity now and will need much more
in the near future, reflecting the
growth in demand for transportation, manufacturing and, above all,
the demands of data centers and
artificial intelligence— demands
that are growing relentlessly.
Changing how we manufacture electricity isn’t helpful if the
nation is to avoid blackouts and
brownouts. They could begin any
time, depending on that great variable: weather.
It used to be that if you asked
utility executives what kept them
awake at night, they would say,
“Cybersecurity.” Now they say,
“Weather.” I know. I ask some of
them regularly.
Electricity is fundamental. It is
unlikely to be replaced. Its essentiality is uncontested. However, what
we use to make it— hydro, wind,
solar, natural gas, coal, geothermal
and nuclear— is changeable. The
methods can be superseded by
something else.
It is impossible to conceive of
electricity being replaced by another force. Electricity is in nature
as well as the wall plug. In short,
we may well have different kinds
of cars, airplanes and homes in the
future, but electricity will be the
constant, as vital as water.
In recent years, as summers
have gotten hotter and drier,
electricity has become more and
more important. With some places
having temperatures of over 100
degrees for weeks and months,
air conditioning has moved from
being a source of comfort to being
essential for life. In Arizona alone,
heat deaths are running over 600 a
summer— and it is hard to measure
accurately who has died because
of heat.
There is some good electricity
news that doesn’t seem to have
been politicized.
Batteries are getting better,
and more of utility scale are being
JA N UA RY /F E B RUARY 2026
59
