Press Release
August 20, 2025
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Energy resilience is more than a far-out future goal; it’s something we need right now. The grid we inherited wasn’t built for the demands we’re seeing today.
Aging infrastructure, global volatility and the rapid push toward electrification are pushing the system to its limits. We need to do more than patch problems quickly. We need to step back, look at the full picture and build more reliable and resilient solutions from the ground up while also updating existing infrastructure.
America’s Energy Paradox
The United States faces a unique paradox: we are simultaneously an energy superpower and an energy liability. With only 4% of the global population, we consume roughly 16% of the world’s energy. That imbalance reflects our economic footprint—26% of global GDP—but it also exposes a vulnerability. Unlike the European Union, which consumes just 9% of global energy with 6% of the population, we have built an economy that is more energy-intensive per capita and more dependent on continuous, high-quality power.
Industrial demand, which accounts for nearly one-third of our national energy use, is set to rise further as electrification advances and reshoring efforts drive domestic manufacturing. Add to that the emergence of AI, data centers and widespread EV adoption, and we are looking at exponential growth in electricity demand over the next decade. National energy usage from data centers alone is expected to double or triple by 2028, according to the Department of Energy; data centers are expected to consume up to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028.
This trajectory cannot be supported by business-as-usual. Our infrastructure, most of it built 50 to 70 years ago, simply wasn’t designed to handle this scale or speed of change.
Infrastructure Strain: The Risk We Can’t Ignore
Anyone who’s spent time in the field knows the numbers don’t capture the full picture. Transformers that should have been replaced years ago are still in service. Substations regularly operate at or above capacity. Transmission expansion is lagging far behind demand growth. According to SEPA and other grid reliability stakeholders, we are entering a phase where outages and system instability may become more frequent if corrective action isn’t taken.
Complicating matters further is the growing complexity of the grid. Distributed energy resources, variable renewables and bidirectional power flows offer promise, but they also challenge a system originally designed for one-way electricity delivery. Without real investment in grid modernization, we risk falling behind at the very moment we need to move forward most aggressively.
Managing Demand With Energy Efficiency: The Untapped Resource
Too often, conversations about energy resilience focus almost exclusively on supply while overlooking the equally critical role of demand. Energy efficiency is one of the most potent, underutilized tools we have for immediate impact.
For example, upgrading to energy-efficient technologies—like swapping in LEDs, improving insulation or modernizing HVAC systems—is one way to significantly reduce energy costs. Paired with smart systems that track performance in real time, building efficiency can be further optimized. The ability to identify, prioritize and potentially automate action and investment where the largest gains exist is critical to improving system resilience. Energy efficiency isn’t about sacrifice; it’s about smarter performance.
Renewables And Distributed Systems: Essential, But Not Standalone
The growth of renewable energy is a welcome and necessary shift, but we must be realistic about its integration. Solar, wind and geothermal will form the backbone of a decarbonized supply portfolio, but they require supporting technologies and a responsive grid architecture.
To make renewable energy truly reliable, energy storage—both for quick surges and long-term needs—is becoming more essential. And when it comes to local resilience, microgrids give communities the ability to keep critical systems running even when the main grid goes down.
An incredible example of this at work is Princeton University, where their microgrid allowed the school to stay online during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, providing a refuge for community members and first responders while local utilities relying on aging infrastructure took days to come back online. These distributed systems (whether campus-scale or community-based) allow us to engineer resilience directly into the built environment.
To unlock the full potential of resilient, decentralized energy systems, regulatory frameworks must evolve. The current interconnection and permitting processes are not only outdated—they often impede innovation. Accelerating progress will require agile, forward-looking policies that enable rapid deployment while upholding the highest standards of reliability and safety.
National Security Starts With Energy Security
Events on the world stage have reminded us that energy is more than an economic asset; it is a geopolitical lever. Global disruptions have exposed the fragility of highly interconnected energy systems, with volatile fuel prices and supply chain constraints revealing just how vulnerable we are to external shocks. For the U.S., this reinforces the urgency of building domestic resilience through a more self-reliant, diversified and secure energy infrastructure.
Reducing our exposure to imported fuels and price shocks means building an energy system rooted in local resources and governed by domestic reliability standards. It also means embracing a broader mix of energy types. Energy independence, in today’s context, is not about going alone. It’s about ensuring that when the global energy landscape shifts, we remain steady.
A Pragmatic, Forward-Looking Approach
There is no one-size-fits-all solution to energy resilience. It requires layered strategies: upgrading aging infrastructure, reducing unnecessary consumption, diversifying supply and rethinking the grid as a dynamic, interactive system rather than a passive delivery mechanism.
We need capital investment, yes. But just as importantly, we need cultural and institutional alignment. Utilities, regulators, technology developers and end users must operate from a shared playbook that prioritizes resilience as a measurable, reportable objective.
The energy professionals who will define the next era of American infrastructure must think like systems engineers, not siloed specialists. We must design for disruption, plan for flexibility and invest not just in capacity, but in capability. Resilience isn’t just about bouncing back from the next storm, cyberattack or blackout. It’s about building an energy system that doesn’t break under pressure in the first place.
# Originally published on Forbes.com via Forbes Technology Council. #
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