By Jamie Martin
According to recent reports by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and Bloomberg NEF (BNEF), clean energy will continue to expand across the country, even under a less supportive climate policy environment.
Both organizations released energy outlooks predicting steady growth in electricity demand through 2050. The EIA expects total electricity usage to rise by 50%, mostly due to the growth of artificial intelligence and data centres. Commercial electricity sales are projected to increase by 20% by 2035, and data centres alone may use 8.6% of the country’s electricity by that time.
The EIA predicts that renewable energy will more than triple and become the main source of electricity by the early 2030s. Wind and solar are expected to be major contributors. BNEF agrees, but has slightly lowered its expectations due to the potential rollback of climate regulations.
Coal, oil, and natural gas use will decline regardless of policy changes. However, the rate of decline depends on whether certain environmental regulations stay in place. For example, under current rules, coal generation could drop by 98% by 2050. Without these rules, the drop would still be 70%.
Gasoline use is also set to decline. If emission standards are kept, the drop could be 44%. Without them, it would still fall by 17%. Natural gas usage will see a small decrease in either scenario.
Electricity prices are expected to rise to over 20 cents per kilowatt-hour by 2050, up from 13 cents in 2024.
“It’s pretty clear that electricity demand is increasing and more end use demands are being met with electricity. Much of that was incentivized with the Inflation Reduction Act,” said Joseph DeCarolis, EIA administrator.
Despite political differences, both reports show clean energy's strong future as investments and demand increase.
Photo Credit: usda
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