ENERGY ACCOUNTABILITY
When the Mule Gets Out of the Barn
While our attention is focused on wars overseas, political battles in Washington, and the crises that dominate the nightly news, another issue continues to grow quietly in the background. It rarely leads the headlines, yet its consequences may reach far beyond our own generation.
Whether you believe climate change is caused entirely by mankind, partly by mankind, or largely by natural cycles, one fact is difficult to ignore: temperatures have been rising over time. Heat waves are becoming more common, wildfires have grown larger and more destructive in many regions, and communities around the world continue adapting to changing weather patterns.
Before debating causes, perhaps we should first acknowledge what we can observe.
At the same time our nation is preparing for an explosion in electricity demand. Artificial intelligence, massive data centers, cryptocurrency mining, and advanced computing all require enormous amounts of electrical power. Industry projections indicate that these technologies could significantly increase America’s demand for electricity during the coming years.
Many Americans have heard of cryptocurrency but have little idea how it actually works. Unlike a dollar bill, cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin is created and verified by vast networks of specialized computers competing to solve complex mathematical problems. The companies and investors who can afford to build enormous facilities filled with these high-powered machines gain a much greater share of the rewards because they control far more computing power. Those computers run day and night, consuming enormous amounts of electricity. As demand for electricity increases, utilities must build additional generating capacity and transmission infrastructure to meet that demand. Those costs do not disappear—they become part of the cost of providing electricity and are ultimately shared across society through higher rates, taxes, infrastructure investments, or some combination of all three. The financial rewards are concentrated among those who own the mining operations, while the costs of supplying the growing demand for electricity are borne much more broadly.
Now consider another fact.
The One Big Beautiful Bill reduced or eliminated numerous federal incentives that had encouraged additional clean-energy development. Among the changes were reductions or early phase-outs affecting:
- Residential rooftop solar tax credits.
- Home energy-efficiency tax credits.
- Many electric vehicle tax credits.
- Many wind energy tax credits for new projects.
- Many solar energy tax credits for new projects.
- Several climate and clean-energy grant programs.
- Financial incentives that had encouraged utilities and developers to build additional renewable-energy capacity.
Consider just one example.
A utility-scale wind project such as Montana’s Clearwater Wind Project can generate approximately 750 megawatts of electricity—enough to supply nearly 600,000 homes. Projects of this scale demonstrate the amount of clean electricity renewable infrastructure can contribute to the power grid.
That leads to a reasonable question.
If America knows its electrical demand is expected to increase dramatically because of AI data centers, supercomputers, and cryptocurrency mining, why reduce many of the incentives designed to encourage additional clean-energy generation?
The image accompanying this story captures that question.
A political leader proudly stands before a massive AI and cryptocurrency supercomputer complex proclaiming,
“This will make me even richer.”
In the foreground stands an ordinary working American, exhausted by relentless heat, quietly saying,
“But it will kill us all.”
Whether those words are literally true is not the point.
The point is the question they force us to ask.
Who benefits?
Who pays?
If the financial rewards are concentrated among investors while society bears the environmental risks, and if future generations inherit a hotter, more demanding world, have we chosen wisely?
Perhaps the greatest cost won’t be paid by us.
It may be paid by our children.
Our grandchildren.
Our great-grandchildren.
Every generation leaves something behind. The question is whether we are leaving behind a stronger nation—or a larger burden.
There is an old saying:
“Once the mule gets out of the barn, getting him back inside is a whole lot harder.”
Perhaps now is the time to ask whether we’re opening the barn door without fully considering what comes next.