Yes, national average power prices have risen, but no, not as much as President Trump said.
Why it matters: With plug prices the political term du jour this election year, sifting through arcane power price data will be important to find the facts.
President Trump is trying to solve a political dilemma with his push for tech companies to fund new power plants: The White House is all-in on AI, but Republicans face blowback as utility bills rise.
Why it matters: Rising consumer electricity costs — which have no single cause — and the need for more power generation are both threats to the AI boom.
The Trump administration's "energy dominance" council and a bipartisan group of governors unveiled a plan on Friday to address rising prices in the nation's largest power grid.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign that the administration is taking seriously the voter angst over skyrocketing electricity bills due in part to huge demand from AI-driven data centers.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright is looking to secure oil and critical minerals deals with Venezuela in the next few weeks ahead of a trip to Caracas, he said in a Friday interview with Axios.
Why it matters: The deals could give the U.S. exclusive access to key resources while helping finance the reconstruction of Venezuela's ailing economy.
A judge on Thursday handed the Trump administration another setback in its quest to thwart offshore wind projects, granting the Empire Wind project a preliminary injunction allowing construction to resume off New York's coast.
Why it matters: The U.S. offshore wind industry has increasingly — and successfully — looked to the courts to keep its plans on track in the face of President Trump's opposition to the technology.
AI feels like magic — largely because most of us don't understand how it really works.
Why it matters: This story will radically break down the process so this technology — which is becoming as commonplace as the Internet — feels more real and less magical.
Natural gas is filling the biggest role fueling electricity for data centers in the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest — the country's AI hotbed — but the region is still staring down a huge shortfall in power.
Why it matters: Society faces the risk of spiking power prices or — worse — no power at all if this gap isn't resolved by either adding more power or fewer data centers.
The world is on the cusp of a generation-defining construction boom, but the U.S. may not have enough workers to make it happen, BlackRock warns in a new paper first seen by Axios.
Why it matters: This is the new fault line of the global economy — soaring demand for some workers and shrinking appetite for others. It could result in widening financial gaps in the coming years.
This might be our first AI race, but it's not America's first power boom.
Why it matters: The latest boomin power is scrambling our communities, politics and power bills, with Big Tech companies making promises seeking to ease said scramble.
