Artificial intelligence may be the future, but the public isn’t convinced it’s the future they want.
Even as companies, investors, and the federal government invest heavily in this transformative technology, the American people remain skeptical. A third of Americans are concerned about AI, nearly half think AI will cause “significant job losses,” and less than half think the government will regulate AI well.
Advocates of large-scale transmission expansion have recited a simple slogan for years: There is no transition without transmission. By this, they mean that the shift to renewable energy will require vast new power lines. Whatever one thinks of climate policy, that argument no longer carries much weight. The relevant question now is whether building more transmission will make electricity more affordable.
Earlier this year, China sent up a red flag. Its Ministry of Commerce introduced export restrictions that immediately reduced the international supply of seven rare earth elements. The move followed President Trump’s tariffs on Chinese goods, but it reminded Americans that we are always vulnerable. We need a source of rare earth elements that isn’t spelled C-H-I-N-A.
While domestic energy demand surges, our adversaries — led by China, the world’s dominant energy financier — are outpacing us in investments in innovative R&D and critical infrastructure. To win this competition, the federal government must enable the U.S. energy sector to compete in technology areas where the financial risk is too high for the private sector to bear alone. One of the U.S. government’s more powerful tools is loan guarantees.
Long before climate policy became a hotbed for political debates, America had already trailblazed one of the most impactful tools for protecting the environment: conservation. From the restoration of rangeland, wetlands, and forests to the creation of national parks, America has a rich, bipartisan tradition of properly natural landscapes.
C3 Solutions’ American Leadership in Energy Innovation Summit was a major success. Get the lowdown from GridBrief in our latest piece.
An alliance of more than 200 environmental organizations is demanding a national moratorium on the construction of new data centers, escalating opposition to an industry that has become central to the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
As America works to meet rising energy demands, nuclear technology is finally ready for a second act. The level of success depends heavily on our commitment to update rules made when rotary phones were all the rage.
At a recent climate conference in Brazil, the Governor of California Gavin Newsom insisted that “The United States of America is as dumb as we want to be on this topic [of climate change], but the state of California is not,” Newsom said. “We are going to assert ourselves, we’re going to lean in, and we are going to compete in this space.” Let’s review the facts and see who is really doubling down on dumb.
The Clean Air Act (CAA) is now 55 years old—and shows its age. That’s not a critique of its legacy. The law, in conjunction with innovation and private investment in environmental improvement, has contributed to significant improvements in air quality, public health, and environmental protection. But its regulatory framework still operates like it’s 1970, often resulting in costly, inefficient regulations that stifle economic growth for little environmental gain.
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