By many measures, the Texas electricity grid was put to the test in 2025. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reported near-record power demand, with electricity use in the first three quarters of 2025 up about 5 percent from the prior year – the fastest growth of any U.S. grid. Since 2023, wind, solar, and energy storage have been the fastest-growing sources of electricity in Texas, all helping meet rising demand.
At the C3 American Leadership in Energy Innovation Summit, Chris Wright laid out the administration’s energy agenda with clarity. His message wasn’t about new mandates or distant, hard-to-achieve targets. It was about throughput—how fast the U.S. can actually build.
Across the United States, a quiet revolution is changing the way we think about energy. It’s not happening in massive power stations or through billion-dollar infrastructure projects. Instead, it’s unfolding in ordinary neighborhoods on rooftops, in garages, and behind smart thermostats. Homes equipped with solar panels, electric vehicles, and connected appliances are linking together to form what experts call virtual power plants.
The bold vision for America’s clean energy rests on an extremely fragile foundation. The United States is highly dependent on foreign countries for crucial minerals.
Last year, in one of his first actions on inauguration day, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to stop using the social cost of carbon (SCC) when weighing the costs and benefits of regulations. The decision prompted predictable outrage from many environmental activists, climate scientists, and economists, who argued that abandoning the SCC would strip climate regulations of their scientific grounding.
From global pandemics to port congestion, extreme weather and rising transportation costs—our nation’s supply chains have been put to a severe test. New analysis from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) shows that some freight networks are inherently more stable during these disruptions.
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.
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