Communities across the country are being thrust into one of the biggest technology shifts in decades as artificial intelligence rapidly expands and drags America’s strained energy grid along with it.
Data centers, once seen as quiet background infrastructure, are suddenly becoming the central players in a new economic and energy reality. These massive facilities store everything from family photos to medical records, but the explosive growth of AI has transformed their role. Training advanced AI models requires round-the-clock computing power, and that means unprecedented electricity demand.
“The scale is staggering,” said Chris Koopman, CEO of the Abundance Institute, who has been working with innovators and policymakers as they navigate this collision of tech and energy. In states like Utah, he noted, proposals for new data campuses are so large they would require more power than the entire state currently uses.
That spike in demand is exposing a critical bottleneck: America’s outdated energy infrastructure. Developers are eager to build data centers, factories, and new housing, but many projects are stuck waiting for access to the grid. Lengthy permitting processes, lawsuits, and decades-old regulations slow down everything from new transmission lines to innovative energy technologies.
Koopman believes that embracing new models is essential. He points to small modular and advanced nuclear reactors; technologies far safer and more flexible than the public often realizes, as one promising path. Several states are currently challenging the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s authority in court, seeking more room to approve next-generation reactors themselves.
But innovation clashes with policy in the AI arena as well. Many states want more power to regulate the fast-moving technology in the name of community protection. Koopman argues the opposite: that communities benefit most when competition thrives. “People feel more empowered when there are many companies, not just one or two, building these tools,” he said, emphasizing the importance of open-source models and broad access.
Both the energy and AI debates, he said, come down to the same core tension: whether decisions flow from the top down or the bottom up. Allowing states and consumers to choose what works best for them, whether that’s wind, nuclear, solar, or the AI tools they trust, creates the flexibility needed for long-term growth.
America, Koopman says, has never shied away from big industrial shifts. The challenge now is clearing the path so innovators and communities can meet this moment together.
