U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)

21May

A Demand and Price Shock

As electricity prices continue to rise and grid reliability warnings proliferate, electricity demand projections are only growing more aggressive. A new report from consulting group ICF International sees U.S. electricity demand jumping 25% by 2030 and 78% by 2050 compared to 2023. That surge in demand will have huge impacts on already teetering reliability and […]
14May

Another Summer of Potential Power Shortfalls

Scorching heat could threaten the nation’s energy supply this summer, with demand eclipsing supply and potentially causing shortfalls and power outages throughout large swaths of the United States, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned today in its 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment. NERC underscored that the nation’s grid reliability – facing the twin challenges […]
30Apr

It’s Good to Have a Reliability Backstop

With Spain, Portugal and parts of France still reeling from a stunning blackout, grid reliability is once again top of mind. While it remains to be seen what caused the grid failure, the complexities of moving away from dispatchable power and towards heavy reliance on intermittent energy are understandably in the spotlight. Regardless of what […]
07Nov

Electricity Inflation at the Ballot Box

Donald Trump’s decisive win in the presidential election appears to have been fueled by broad discontent with the economy and notably inflation. ABC News preliminary exit poll results found that more than two-thirds of voters said the economy is in bad shape and the share of people who said they are worse off under the […]
18Oct

More of Everything

Every few months we get an important course correction on energy math. That is, for all the talk of an energy transition, the data tell a far more nuanced story. Yes, renewables are an increasingly important part of our energy mix and electric vehicles sales are soaring, but where do these trends fit in the […]
24May

The Biden Administration’s Arithmetic Problem

The Biden administration is building its entire energy agenda on a foundation of speed. Or as some members of the Biden energy team like to say, “deploy, deploy, deploy.” Their mandate is to build wind turbines, solar arrays, site transmission lines and reshore supply chains overnight while the U.S. (EPA) Environmental Protection Agency simultaneously tears […]
29Mar

Where’s the Transmission?

As the Biden administration charges ahead with its regulatory blitz to shutter the existing U.S. coal fleet, the infrastructure required for renewable energy to reliably support American households and businesses simply doesn’t exist.  Again and again, experts warn that transmission is the key to building a renewable-heavy future. Analyses from researchers at national labs, the […]
25Jan

U.S. Coal is Backstopping European Energy Security

The worst fears of an out-of-control energy crisis in Europe this winter appear not to be coming to fruition, and coal power and U.S. imports have played a significant role in shoring up European energy supplies and getting our allies through the storm. Coal has been particularly important for Germany. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, […]
20Oct

Cold, Dark and Expensive

Surging energy prices are colliding with renewed grid reliability concerns this winter. While the price at the gas pump has garnered the lion’s share of attention over the past few months, the rising price of electricity and the surging price of natural gas are putting new wind in the sails of energy-driven inflation that reached […]
08Jun

U.S. Coal to Europe

Fatih Birol, head of the International Energy Agency, recently warned that the current global energy crisis is in fact bigger than the oil crises of the 1970s and 80s. “Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis and an electricity crisis at the same time,” he said. He also warned it’s likely to last […]