Energy powers just about everything Americans do. From using a smartphone to working in an office to cooking dinner, nearly every activity requires electricity or some other form of energy.

You might not have thought much about where that energy comes from and, more importantly, whether it will ever run out.

Many Americans have experienced climate change-driven events like hurricanes, tornadoes, and winter storms that have knocked out power and taken days or weeks to restore. In some cases, it’s because the country’s power grids are either at capacity or swiftly moving toward it.

Learning where power comes from and advocating for ways to generate it sustainably can help those across the country get what they need and ensure that businesses can continue to thrive.

What Is “the Grid”?

“The grid” is a term used to describe the infrastructural networks that transport fossil fuels and other types of energy from their source to a home or business. There’s no one big grid in the U.S. — rather, “the grid” is a kind of patchwork made up of smaller regional and localized grids.

On one end of these grids are corporate-owned power plants that harvest natural resources like natural gas and coal and turn them into energy sources like electricity. On the other are residents and business owners who pay companies to deliver the power to them. The wires, cables, and other components of the grid facilitate that exchange.

Unidirectional No More

At present, electricity generally flows in one direction: from the power plant to the consumer. In the future, environmentalists and experts hope to move toward a multidirectional model where residents and businesses can generate their own energy and send it back upstream.

Most are looking toward renewable energy sources as the answer. Solar panels and wind turbines can produce electricity without harmful carbon emissions that negatively impact the environment. Sun- and wind-charged batteries can power cars, homes, appliances, and devices without the need to put a strain on the grid.

Can Renewable Energy Sources Keep Up?

The question on many experts’ minds is whether renewable energy sources can meet the country’s prodigious energy demands. If wind and sunlight aren’t available, how will people get energy?

According to microgrid provider Enchanted Rock’s Chief Commercial Officer Allan Schurr, renewable resources “create more of a challenge for the grid operator to make sure there’s enough electricity at all times.”

The answer could lie in storing unused renewable energy in home batteries for later use and sending it back across the grid during peak times. EV batteries could effectively serve the same purpose.

Enchanted Rock is also working to provide solutions to this dilemma by connecting data centers to natural gas-powered microgrids. Others have suggested smart home devices that modulate energy use based on demand.

These options are being explored at a critical time when energy grids are being overloaded due to the rise of hyper-scale data centers, large-scale electric vehicle charging, and manufacturing reshoring.

Planning and building for fixed energy needs when the entire system is in a state of flux and growth has become a seemingly impossible challenge. By pairing renewable energy with technology that can regulate and adjust it to current needs, it may be possible to create a more sustainable future.

Learn more about this topic by reading the original article by Kelcee Griffis.