Guest Opinion: Our energy future is at stake in this election

By Jeff Mayhugh

This article was republished with permission from FXBG Advance’s news partner InsideNoVa.com. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.

The Technological Revolution has begun, and Virginia is fueling it by building the infrastructure.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping the world, setting off a global race for resources. Energy infrastructure has united us but, if exploited, threatens to divide us. America and the world are in a state of flux. We need quality leaders to turn the page to the next chapter of American greatness.

Over the past decade, Virginia has been on the cutting edge of the technological revolution, becoming the data center capital of the world. Nearly 70% of the world’s internet traffic runs through the Piedmont clay. In Virginia, the power demand is growing at a rate not seen since World War II. As a result, bills are expected to rise by a little over 2.5% each year over the next 15 years.

How Virginia deals with the problems of protecting this infrastructure and the environment while meeting energy demand without skyrocketing costs will provide a template for the rest of the country as the rise in AI increases energy demand in other states.

The Virginia governor’s race between Democrat Abigail Spanberger and Republican Winsome Earle-Sears creates an opportunity to lead on the national stage. While the data centers are an eyesore and nuisance for the local community, they are instrumental for the growth of new economic centers of power that will help not just Virginians but all Americans. The AI sector is essential for the United States to remain at the top of the global hegemony.

But data centers require enormous amounts of electricity to run and water to cool – and Virginia is struggling to keep up with demand.

Meeting that challenge requires bold leadership, and outgoing Gov. Glenn Youngkin has laid important groundwork. He has worked to match energy production with demand to keep costs down for citizens. He has taken an “all of the above” approach, looking to create public and private investments in wind, hydrogen, large-scale batteries, pumped-storage hydropower, solar and small nuclear modular reactors, known as SMRs.

Virginia passed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which mandates that the state’s electric companies transition to 100% renewable energy sources by 2050. Currently, Virginia is mainly powered by natural gas, accounting for 55% of energy. Nuclear energy is second at 32%, and solar energy is third at 5%.

Compared to wind and solar energy, nuclear energy has a smaller footprint, with higher production and lower carbon output.

Nuclear energy is the best option to meet demand while limiting environmental impact and reducing carbon emissions, but it still carries the shadow of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. Yet, Three Mile Island’s containment systems worked, preventing disaster. And as Belarusian physicist Stanislav Shushkevich noted, Chernobyl was more a failure of governance than of technology. It’s time to rebrand “nuclear energy” as “atomic energy” and launch a public-private campaign to educate Americans on its safety and promise.

Energy transitions are natural in human history. We transitioned from wood to coal and to oil and gas. Each energy source is a product of availability, and each faces different challenges that create positive and negative effects. The more resources devoted to an energy source, the cleaner, more efficient and safer it becomes. When progress stagnates, it signals a need for transition.

In addition to the demand for energy, Virginia must also update its energy infrastructure to keep up with the growing demand and to protect consumers from losing access to power due to hackers abroad.

Spanberger and Earle-Sears should capitalize on this opportunity and put forth a Virginia plan for energy abundance and security to fuel and protect the technological revolution. Right now, neither candidate has an energy plan on her website.

Spanberger, however, has been endorsed by Clean Virginia, an organization “to advance clean government and clean energy by fighting utility monopoly corruption in Virginia politics.” And although she was lieutenant governor under Youngkin, Earle-Sears has, so far, avoided touting the administration’s achievements in energy.

Voters should demand a plan before the election so they can feel confident when they go to the polls in November. The next governor won’t just shape Virginia’s energy future. She’ll help write the blueprint for the nation. This race isn’t just about politics – it’s about power itself: who generates it, controls it and benefits from it in the Tech Age.

Jeff Mayhugh is the founding editor of Politics and Parenting, a former congressional candidate and vice president at No Cap Fund.

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