Today, countries around the globe are in a new race for primacy of artificial intelligence (AI) that will define economic and technological competition in the 21st century. As global powers like China accelerate investments, America’s ability to lead hinges on its capability to rapidly scale compute capacity, a feat dependent on abundant and available energy. While many energy sources will play a role, there is one that can provide the reliability, flexibility, and scalability to keep America at the head of the race: natural gas.
Advancing AI infrastructure means providing the energy to support exponential computational growth. From California to Texas to Virginia, data centers are popping up at an unprecedented rate, each requiring extensive power infrastructure. Goldman Sachs Research estimates data center power demand will grow by 160% by 2030.
Without adequate energy infrastructure, America’s AI ambitions risk being throttled. The race for AI primacy depends on our ability to scale our energy infrastructure to meet the growing demand while maintaining reliability, affordability and safety for data centers, for businesses and manufacturing and for our families.
Of all the available energy sources in the U.S., natural gas is uniquely positioned to support the rapid demand growth required for America to lead the way in AI without jeopardizing reliability or affordability. With more than 2.8 million miles of pipeline networks, extensive storage systems, and abundant natural gas resources, the U.S. natural gas industry is strategically placed to serve as the backbone of a scalable energy system that can reliably meet surging energy demands.
We currently have a front row seat to history with the opportunity to accelerate the buildout of the vast natural gas pipeline system to meet the increasing energy demands from data centers. Pipeline development projects help to ensure consistent and reliable energy delivery to new large demand centers and existing consumers.
Every year, more than 21,000 businesses sign up to use natural gas for their manufacturing processes, heating needs, and operational tasks. Its cost-effectiveness is unmatched, with natural gas saving commercial and industrial customers more than half a trillion dollars over the last decade.
Data centers value reliability of supply at a premium: 78% of surveyed data centers experienced power outages between 2017 and 2020, with unplanned downtime costing some facilities more than $100,000 per incident. Such losses of power risk corrupting data, halting critical services, and even melting down servers. With only one in 650 natural gas customers expected to experience a planned or unplanned natural gas outage in any given year, natural gas is a clear solution.
Natural gas continues to drive clean energy in the power sector. Since 2005, natural gas has been responsible for 60% of the CO2 emission reductions in electricity generation. As the energy sector advances and innovates, natural gas will continue to play a vital role in driving sustainable progress.
The partnership of natural gas and AI can position American business and manufacturing at the forefront of innovation. It can increase living standards and fuel economic growth in ways unseen since the Industrial Revolution. It will strengthen our national security and keep America as a production giant on the global stage.
The innovative relationship between AI and natural gas also creates a virtuous cycle – while natural gas fuels AI, the technology itself provides vast opportunities to help make natural gas distribution smarter, more efficient and cleaner. Advanced AI can optimize energy exploration, enhance system repairs and improvements, and create a cleaner, more efficient and less costly natural gas system. Further innovation in renewable natural gas and hydrogen blending will also continue to advance a more efficient, lower-emissions energy system.
The U.S. has always risen to the challenge of global competition through innovation, resilience and strategic investment. In the 1960s, it was about reaching the moon. Today, it’s about leading on artificial intelligence, maximizing our economic capabilities, and winning that race against competitors like China. According to a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, U.S. natural gas provides the critical competitive advantage that America can utilize to get ahead.
Natural gas is the key to ensuring America wins in this race. Policymakers must recognize the critical intersection of energy and AI competitiveness. Accelerating the expansion and modernization of natural gas infrastructure is needed to keep pace with growing demand. Therefore, streamlined permitting reform is now vital to support American innovation. The stakes are high, and the competition is fierce, but with natural gas fueling our advancement, America is well-equipped to cross the finish line first.
Karen Harbert is President and CEO of the American Gas Association.
This article was originally published by RealClearEnergy and made available via RealClearWire.
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US natgas has three big positives including but not limited to AI data centers.
Undoing some stupid things, like electric powered compressors on gas pipelines would help with reliability. They failed in Texas in 2021, one of those silly notions the Feds imposed.
From the article:”…natural gas has been responsible for 60% of the CO2 emission reductions in electricity generation.”
This is what’s wrong with folks like Karen. The virtues of CH4 are many. I heat my home with it. But giving a damn about the reduction in CO2 should never be something people care about. She should never mention it as her saying something gives credibility to the alarmists. And don’t disparage coal as methane can’t make steel.
You gotta throw some bones to the dogs to keep them quiet.
Hush Puppies… that’s what you cooked to keep the dogs quiet at the fish fry:<)
I agree. We should do all we can to avoid unintentionally raising the credibility of the CAGW alarmists.
Instead of sustainable progress, would it not be better stated as sustainable energy reliability?
We should not waste a valuable raw material like natural gas to produce nonsense like AI.
Try and stop it. Seriously.
I don’t see any reason why AI must be power hungry – other than we don’t really understand it and take a really roundabout way. Apparently, there is not enough data on the planet to train AI models. The mankind managed for thousands of years without Internet repositories.
AI is not power hungry. AI is software. The computer farms used to host AI and serve as data depositories are the items that are power hungry.
It is the Data Centers that host AI that are power hungry.
Sure, NG is great, but so is coal. It depends on the circumstances which would make more sense.
I’m still waiting for more environmentally sound ways to harvest coal. Or just ways to clean up the mess after we’re done mining.
NOTE to hecklers: Please don’t what about me. Please don’t change the subject to lithium mining or the environmental impact of solar or wind turbines. This comment is about coal mining. I’m aware that everything has trade-offs, too.
What does “environmentally sound” mean?
In Canada after site is mined out, the miners are required to restore the site to its original condition before the start of mining.
Mining coal is not a problem. Burning it is – for AGW fanatics.
I actually don’t get your comment you seem to be getting mining (a process) mixed up with coal a material. You need to be explicit are you talking about a specific mining process (say open cut mining) or something about coal itself?
The term harvest coal may be odd but I thought it clearly referred to mining.
A valid point. Upvoted.
There are different means used to harvest coal, each with environmental plusses and minuses, just as there are different means for harvesting oil and natural gas.
Many of the coal harvesting approaches already have proper and proven means to “clean up the mess” afterwards.
On the broader scale, other ores and minerals also need improvements.
Ever been to the hole in the ground that used to be a gravel quarry?
We have learned and improved and the scars left today are much less offensive than those in decades past. That said, there is always a need for constant process improvements.
If the Federal Government is going to invest in technologies, I would put resource harvesting restoration on the list as high as sound judgement allows. Not just coal. All of it.
Yes, I have been to old sand and gravel pits. In Michigan, many have been turned into artificial lakes where people enjoy swimming and boating, and they are often surrounded by expensive, waterfront homes
I would like to see a valid cost/technical proposal trading off laying rail lines versus LNG pipelines.
If rail lines are non-existent, then I would guess gas would be the way to go. In some cases, perhaps rail lines have been abandoned, but could readily be refurbished.
Let’s not lose sight of the fact that we need to use all practical sources for our energy. Wind and solar aren’t practical or affordable or dependable or long lived but they are an eye sore and they do kill lots of wildlife. Our best bet is coal, gas and nuclear. Oil is better used for chemicals, synthetic, lubrication and fuel. Gas is also used for chemicals, synthetics and fuel. Our electricity should come from coal, gas and nuclear. We should not fall into the trap of depending on one more than the others. Gas’s other uses must always be kept in mind. Yes we should use gas but the best use for coal and nuclear is electricity generation and manufacturing. Let us get busy building coal, gas and nuclear power plants but concentrate on coal and nuclear with a good mix of gas.
I agree, but with a nuanced correction. Large scale “Wind and solar …”
WTG and WV are niche technologies that can be used in limited applications, none of which are grid scale and none of which meet the demands of these data centers that are spouting up like weeds.
Currently, the lack of CCGT manufacturing capacity is the largest constraint on deployment, it’s all booked up. Manufacturer’s are hesitant to increase capacity because they know that when the dems get back in power they will be doing everything they can to obstruct, delay, and cancel natural gas in favor of wind/solar/batteries.
“know” should be replaced with fear.
We can not know the future. It may be that if/when the dems regain control of the government tax dollar purse strings there might be different grasshoppers to distract them.
AI and the power to run it will sort itself out. That’s what free markets do.
My concern is advertising.
Yes you read that right.
Remember when Google and other search engines were free? Then came the ads. Then came the ad blockers. Then came the myriad ways of getting around the ad blockers until the advertisers figured out a way that the ad blockers cannot stop.
Promoted Content
Search for just about anything and the first few links will be promoted content. How long until the advertisers figure out how to sneak promoted content into AI? You ask a question about different kinds of saws for a particular kind of wood and it recommends a saw blade only made by Makita. So…did Makita pay to promote that answer? How would we know?
Then it gets worse. Qatar starts to promote answers regarding the Middle East. Russia starts to promote answers about Ukraine. The Dems start to promote answers about Republicans.
AI is going to get out of control fast, but not in the ways most people are thinking about it right now.
This was my exact concern about those silly ‘always listening’ devices that give such helpful answers, ie the first one, regardless of how many, and sway the opinions of those unwilling to seek answers themselves. Then Artificial Idiocy comes along to add some substance to these dumb responses, and make them seem more knowledgeable. That sucks in another 20 or 30% of people.
The dwindling remaining few percent, able to think and search for themselves, can just look on and shake their heads in dismay.
It is the human language modules (software) that make people think AI is intelligent. If it sounds smart, then it must be smart.
Reflect on how many times you read something and said Wow! but when you went back and reread it you went Wait a minute!
This was my exact concern about those silly ‘always listening’ devices that give such helpful answers, ie the first one, regardless of how many, and sway the opinions of those unwilling to seek answers themselves. Then Artificial Idiocy comes along to add some substance to these dumb responses, and make them seem more knowledgeable. That sucks in another 20 or 30% of people.
The dwindling remaining few percent, still able to think and search for themselves, can just look on and shake their heads in dismay.
“Start to?” It is already happening.
Google has partnered with the UN to promote IPCC and alarmist results to the top of every search.
You say “America’s ability to lead hinges on its capability to rapidly scale compute capacity…”
How does that work? Lead in what exactly? Number of users? Number of uses?
I am all for AI hype killing green hype but it is still just hype.
Leading in AI is the same as leading in computing, you remind me of some people in the 80’s going on about how computing was just hype and it was all just a tech bubble. Whether you think it’s hype is not relevant the vast sums of money being invested in it is all that matters. You know the idiom “money talks and BS walks” and you aren’t spending money.
How much juice does the WUWT data center use? Gotta be a gigatons of electrons!
Depends how many times you post comments 🙂
A webserver just sitting there not dishing up pages would use the basic default power of the server it’s on.
From Blog Stats: 572,585,377 hits
1.21 jigawatts
One gigatonne is equivalent to 1.0977693108051E+42 electrons.
An ampere is 6.241509 x 10E+18 electrons per second.
So a gigaton of electrons is a lot of juice.
A typical web server draws less than 10 A at 120 Vac.
Now, if only AI actually works and does something useful.
This is a rah-rah piece, but that aside, it is factual.
Enthusiasm is needed desperately to counter alarmist fear mongering, so I embrace it.
Natural gas (NG) is a great hydrocarbon fuel, as is coal. Together, they will fuel us to 2100.
There are two notable differences between coal and NG.
Oil and gas are less abundant, in terms of energy, than coal. That is an undisputed fact and underlies the assassination of coal. The assassination comes from people who prefer others to lack energy – it makes them feel superior to jet around the globe.
Coal fired plants last 50-60 years while CCGT last 35-40 years. CCGT makes great load-following plants, while coal makes great base power plants. They are complimentary.
Nuclear fission, at present, is the only viable long term base power replacement. Solar and wind are a waste of our ‘seed’ money. BUT, there is sufficient hydrocarbon fuel remaining at reasonable cost, to make the transition to the longer term fission power future.