How AI is Affecting Energy Demand
Have you ever tripped a circuit breaker or had to reset an outlet strip?
You might have had your computer, printer, lamp—maybe even a coffee maker—all plugged into one power strip. Then you add a small heater, and suddenly, everything shuts down. The cause? Too much power (kWh) being drawn, which trips the breaker or thermal reset.
Now image that on a larger scale.
NVIDIA chips (or their equivalents), which power AI centers, consume around 200 watts each when operating. Companies like Amazon, IBM, Meta, Tesla, and Microsoft are planning to install millions of these chips. NVIDIA alone expects to ship 6 million chips by mid-2026.
The power demands for these chips are significant.
Consider 6 million NVDIA chips running 24/7 for one year is 36,792,000,000,000 kWh
In 2022 that energy represents.
• 6% of the entire US energy consumed
• 20% of the entire state of Illinois energy
• 43% of ComEd energy
Plugging in 43% demand into ComEd would blow a few circuit breakers! This doesn’t take into consideration all the computers trying to access the results of these new AI centers.
The consideration of creating such energy intensity in such a short time frame is having profound impact on energy utilities in the United States. Beyond generating power is the distribution of that power and the emissions of that energy production.
Solar and wind energy sources are the most economical and quickest to deploy choices, however they may not be considered due to political considerations.
Power demands cannot be met by issuing press releases. They take serious planning and billions of dollars in expenditure.
When you make your next Chat GPT query consider the power needs to deliver that answer.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in the states of Illinois, and Indiana. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 11 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Additional Information:
Electricity data browser – Net generation for all fuels (utility-scale)
Everything You Need to Know About Nvidia H200 GPUs
Mizuho Analysts Raise Nvidia AI GPU Shipment Forecast for 2025 – EconoTimes
Realgy Announces Continued Savings for Ameren Customers
Realgy Announces Continued Savings for Ameren Customers
May 13, 2025 – Realgy, LLC is pleased to announce that despite no change in Ameren’s utility pricing since February 2025, Realgy will now deliver over 4.4% in savings for commercial customers.
Realgy has published a revised ManagedPrice™ rate of 8.64¢/kWh, allowing commercial clients to benefit from meaningful cost reductions without any corresponding change from Ameren’s standard rate.
Ameren’s next expected price adjustment is scheduled for after May 2025, according to their published tariff. Until then, Realgy’s pricing strategy will continue to provide measurable benefits to its commercial customer base.
ManagedPrice™ is Realgy Energy Services’ exclusive program where all customers in a buying pool receive the same price. Realgy will make purchasing decisions on behalf of the pool participants to provide a low cost of natural gas or electricity while reducing the negative effects of market volatility.
For more information on Realgy’s ManagedPrice™ and how your business can take advantage of competitive energy pricing, visit www.realgy.com or contact us at 860-233-2270.
Realgy Announces Continued Savings for MEC Customers
Realgy Announces Continued Savings for MEC Customers
May 13, 2025 – Realgy, LLC is pleased to announce that Realgy will now deliver over 6% in savings for commercial customers compared to the earlier April rate.
This improvement in customer savings is driven by a reduction in Realgy’s costs at MISO. As a result, Realgy has published a revised ManagedPrice™ rate of 6.11¢/kWh, allowing commercial clients to benefit from meaningful cost reductions.
ManagedPrice™ is Realgy Energy Services’ exclusive program where all customers in a buying pool receive the same price. Realgy will make purchasing decisions on behalf of the pool participants to provide a low cost of natural gas or electricity while reducing the negative effects of market volatility.
For more information on Realgy’s ManagedPrice™ and how your business can take advantage of competitive energy pricing, visit www.realgy.com or contact us at 860-233-2270.
Illinois Solar Farms – Clearway Community Solar
Illinois Solar Farms – Clearway Community Solar
Whether federal laws overrule state laws or state laws overrule local laws, it’s always a case of who’s interest is heard.
Consider Illinois state siting laws over power plants in particular solar.
Solar farms are the concentration of ground-mounted solar panels that can cover large fields; 10-100 acres.
Illinois siting laws govern the permitting and siting of critical infrastructure such as wastewater, landfills, mining, and power plants. For such critical infrastructure, local zoning and siting are not primary, meaning that the needs of the state and state laws determine the final approval.
Recently, local county officials have reacted to the sitting of solar farms as some residents object to their use of farmland. County officials can pass resolutions requesting the state to rescind laws governing critical infrastructure however, most officials recognize the futility;
“We can send resolutions from here to the end of time and it’s not going to change the situation,
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in the states of Illinois, and Indiana. We offer service plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing directly to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed, and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 11 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Build 1,500 Homes with the Energy Needs of 500.
How do you build 1,500 homes and only add the energy demand of 500 homes?
Drill the hole first!
A ground-source heat pump uses electricity to exchange heat or cooling with the ground, unlike its more common cousin, the air-source heat pump, which exchanges heat to the surrounding air.
Drilling into the ground taps into an average temperature of 54 degrees. Using the ground temperature means that maintaining your home at 72 degrees year-round is a difference in temperature of 18 degrees whether heating or cooling. This temperature difference means it requires about 1/3 of the energy of a more typical heating and air-conditioned home.
The efficiency gain, however, cannot be easily retrofitted because it involves digging a deep hole in residential neighborhoods. That’s why air-cooled heat pumps provide about 13% of all homes while ground sources only 1%.
Beyond the efficiency gain, installing ground-based heat pumps simplifies construction. No gas or oil lines are needed for heating and no upgrade for electric service.
Utility companies and home builders are teaming up to plan new housing developments that incorporate ground-based heat pumps.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in the states of Illinois, and Indiana. We offer service plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing directly to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed, and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 11 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
ComEd Will Pay You to Upgrade and Improve Your Energy Consuming Equipment
ComEd will pay you to upgrade and improve your energy-consuming equipment.
If you use the following, ComEd will pay you to upgrade.
1. Refrigeration
2. EMS (energy management systems)
3. HVAC
4. Network Lighting Control (NLC)
5. Computer Room AC
6. UPS (uninterruptible power supply)
7. Occupancy sensor and monitoring
8. Forklift and mobility electrification
9. Cooking and venting
10. Solar PV installations
11. Training
The best energy savings as a ComEd customer is Realgy Energy Services.
Consider we are the only retail energy provider that guarantees to be the lowest-cost supplier. So ComEd will pay you to install efficient equipment, and Realgy will reduce your energy expenses.
As part of any capital investment, check with ComEd to understand how they will reduce your expenses on nearly anything energy-consuming.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in Illinois and Indiana. We offer service plans that provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing directly to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed, and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 11 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Renewable Energy means lower energy bills….why stop that?
The lowest cost energy production in the United States is wind and solar.
There are many reasons for this, starting with the fact that neither of these require to pay for fossil fuels to generate electricity for 25 years. Wind and solar is the cheapest electric production sources across the world. The scale of investment drives down the costs of adoption and has improved the efficiency in the technologies steadily for 20 years.
The Federal Government supports both fossil fuel (since 1890) and renewable energy production (since 2002).
Consider:
In the U.S., newly built solar and wind farms can provide power at a cheaper rate than 99% of the country’s remaining coal plants. Even fossil gas, the workhorse of the U.S. grid, struggles to compete with new clean energy. A study from Think Tank RMI found that portfolios of solar, wind, and batteries paired with utility energy-efficiency investments can serve grid needs at a lower cost than newly built gas-fired power plants.
So, what is the impact from the US stopping the investment and advantages that our past Federal Government support has bought? Well, an increase in energy costs! Yes, an increase in energy costs, roughly 0ver $90/year per household.
Just like a teeter-totter push one end down the other goes up. If the US wants to increase fossil fuels use it will increase the costs of energy for all US consumers, while the rest of the world’s energy price goes down.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer serving commercial customers in the states of Illinois, and Indiana. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 11 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.