by Leo Hohmann, Leo’s Newsletter:
This project sounds good on the surface but will do little to truly improve the reliability or security of the grid. It will supply AI with the power needed to surveil everyone 24/7
The U.S. Department of Energy is allocating $2.2 billion in grants for upgrades of the power grid to make it more resilient to extreme weather events and accommodate more renewable energy.
Oilprice.com reports that the jolt of federal funding will add to private-sector financing to support eight grid upgrade projects across 18 states.
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According to the Biden administration, the DOE funding is expected to support the construction of more than 600 miles of new transmission lines and the upgrade of about 400 miles of existing lines so that they can carry more current.
This has nothing to do with hardening the power grid in a way that could withstand an EMP attack by Russia or China.
Experts such as the late EMP Taskforce Director Dr. Peter Pry have been calling for this kind of upgrade for years (you can read about Dr. Pray’s warnings here from the Center for Security Policy).
Instead, what do we get? A so-called upgrade that will place more emphasis on more expensive and less reliable renewable energy, i.e. wind and solar.
This is a sham project that panders to climate alarmists instead of listening to national security realists in the vein of Dr. Pry.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement carried by Reuters:
“The first half of 2024 has already broken records for the hottest days in Earth’s history, and as extreme weather continues to hit every part of the country, we must act with urgency to strengthen our aging grid.”
U.S. utilities and regulators have raised significantly their forecasts of peak power demand in the coming decade, but that has almost nothing to do with climate change.
The real reason for needing upgraded capacity is the expected exponential growth in electricity demand stemming from the massive new data centers being built all over the country to support the growth of generative AI.
AI uses an incredible amount of electricity to collect, process and store information 24/7 in real time. These AI data centers also require a tremendous amount of water resources to keep the computers cooled.
This is part of the cost of living in the growing global AI-powered surveillance state. And it’s a cost almost nobody is talking about.
Not only will we lose all privacy. We will pay for our own enslavement in the form of higher taxes and utility bills.
