Electricity demand is surging, driven by data centers and the broader shift toward electrification. The United States faces a critical question: can the country build the energy infrastructure it needs fast enough to support economic growth while advancing the clean energy transition?
In this special joint episode of CleanLaw and Climate Rising recorded earlier this summer, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law School Professor Jody Freeman and Harvard Business School Professor Mike Toffel sit down with Nat Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, to discuss why building new energy infrastructure has become so difficult, what permitting reforms could accelerate clean energy deployment and transmission, how AI is reshaping this debate, and why solving these challenges may be essential to both climate progress and American competitiveness.
Related Links
Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES): Nat Keohane’s organization focused on pragmatic, bipartisan climate policy and business engagement.
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF): Referenced throughout Nat’s career and climate policy work.
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI): Referenced during discussion of electricity demand and grid modernization.
The REPEAT Project (Princeton University): Research on U.S. energy systems, permitting, and decarbonization pathways.
Heatmap News: Climate and energy news outlet recommended by Nat Keohane.
Rhodium Group: Independent research group focused on energy, climate, and economic analysis.
ClearPath: Center-right organization working on clean energy and climate policy.
Abundance, a book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson that examines the reasons behind the lack of progress on ambitious projects in the U.S.
Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers Are Paying for Big Tech’s Power, a report from EELP’s Harvard Electricity Law Initiative on how utilities are forcing ratepayers to fund discounted rates for data centers.
By the Numbers by Hannah Ritchie that covers a range of environmental topics: from climate and energy to food, deforestation, the oceans, resource consumption, and human wellbeing
Fervo Energy: climate tech company that delivers 24/7 carbon-free geothermal energy
Repeat Project led by Princeton University Prof. Jesse D. Jenkins that provides a toolkit for evaluating energy and climate policy