Cartwright Rejects 150% Energy Price Spiral Fears From AI Data Centers

1 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 18

Cartwright argues AI-driven data centers are unlikely to trigger a lasting electricity price spiral, saying current alarm echoes past scarcity forecasts that badly missed actual price trends.
A 1980 federal report projected real energy prices would rise more than 150% over 25 years, but real residential electricity prices instead fell by more than 25%, she notes.
Her case leans on economist Julian Simon’s view that higher prices spur innovation and substitution: in a 1980 wager, a $1,000 basket of five metals fell to $423.93 by 1990.
Stanford’s AI Index found the cost of a fixed level of AI performance dropped more than 200-fold in about two years, which Cartwright says reflects efficiency gains, better chips and new power investment.
She acknowledges grid strain and ratepayer pain are real, but frames them as market signals likely to attract more supply and technological adaptation rather than prove inevitable long-term scarcity.