The Law of Energy Abundance

Abstract

For the first time in decades, electricity demand in the United States is increasing due to A.I., new data centers, electric vehicle growth, new manufacturing hubs, and transportation electrification. At the same time, coal-fired power plants have been closing in response to competition from lower cost natural gas and renewable energy. Clean energy is being rapidly deployed to replace fossil fuels, but not fast enough to address concerns about demand growth and grid reliability. Accordingly, there is a growing imbalance between electricity supply and demand in many regions of the country that threatens to increase electricity prices and undermine the clean energy transition needed to support an affordable, reliable electric grid in the face of climate-driven increases in severe weather.

The lagging supply of carbon-free energy is not caused primarily by technological or economic constraints, but rather by a set of artificial bottlenecks that are embedded in the current legal and regulatory frameworks governing U.S. energy development. In this Essay, we examine for the first time how the emerging abundance movement, which focuses on supply-side solutions to scarcity issues throughout the economy, may be well-suited to address energy development barriers. Having already secured bipartisan support for a series of pro-housing zoning reforms throughout the country, the abundance movement presents a vision of growth, jobs, and lower prices that can appeal to a broad range of stakeholders and policymakers at a time of high political polarization in the United States.

We propose a theory of clean energy abundance that can combine the strengths of both the burgeoning abundance movement and the longstanding environmental protection movement. In contrast to other abundance thinkers that favor an “all-of-the-above” approach to energy that includes new fossil fuel plants, we believe the urgency of climate change and the benefits of building coalitions with environmental advocates require a different direction. We lay out a Law of Energy Abundance focused exclusively on building carbon-free energy and related infrastructure. We assess the current barriers to achieving clean energy abundance as we define it and propose targeted legal reforms that can reduce or eliminate these barriers.

Keywords: Abundance, Supply-Side Progressivism, Energy Abundance, Housing Abundance, YIMBY Movement, Zoning Reforms, Transmission Lines, Energy Transition, Environmental Advocacy, NEPA, Decarbonization