What happened in this Energy story?

Jane Flegal, a former Biden White House climate policy aide now at the Searchlight Institute, argues on the Volts podcast that the US must rapidly build a clean electricity grid capable of powering surging demand growth — starting with data centers — as climate priority number one.

What is a key fact in this story? (1)

**Jane Flegal** argues the US must rapidly build out a clean electricity system capable of powering today's demand and the demand growth needed to meet climate goals, calling it objective number one for anyone who cares about climate.

What is a key fact in this story? (2)

**Flegal** explicitly rejects degrowth on normative grounds, noting that most future emissions growth will come from developing economies and that climate solutions must enable, not shrink, economic growth.

Flegal: US must rapidly build abundant clean grid — SkimNews

By Volts · Summarized & edited by Kapil Samant · 2026-09-11

Get the Energy newsletter

Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.

Jane Flegal argues the US must rapidly build out a clean electricity system capable of powering today's demand and the demand growth needed to meet climate goals, calling it objective number one for anyone who cares about climate.
Flegal explicitly rejects degrowth on normative grounds, noting that most future emissions growth will come from developing economies and that climate solutions must enable, not shrink, economic growth.
Flegal criticizes green groups for lacking a plan for data centers, Democratic members of Congress for "faffing about" on permitting and transmission reform, and governors for failing to use hyperscaler money to strengthen state grids.
Her academic training in science and technology studies shapes a "risk management frame" that pushes for plural approaches and epistemic humility rather than one engineer-optimized path.
The wide-ranging discussion covers the proposed American Grid Infrastructure Fund, behind-the-meter gas and flexible load, capacity markets and ERCOT, utility incentives and public power, and the current political window for NEPA reform.
Flegal has worked at the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Hewlett Foundation, Biden's White House climate policy office on industrial emissions, and Frontier's carbon-removal market development; she now holds fellowships at the Searchlight Institute, The States Forum, the Energy for Growth Hub, and the University of Chicago's Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth.
Resources linked in the episode note Texas has frozen new data center projects pending state audits and that a new report finds Trump hasn't squashed Biden's clean energy buildout.

Why it matters: Flegal brings Biden White House and Frontier credentials to argue that climate advocates and Democrats are fumbling the most practical decarbonization step: rapidly building clean generation and transmission to absorb data-center-driven demand. The episode cites an open political window for NEPA reform, suggesting the legislative opening for grid buildout is right now.