The One Thing That Could Decide America's Fate This Decade
What Happens When a Nation Cannot Keep the Lights On?
It happened on a cold December night.
A few well-placed rifle shots at two substations in North Carolina. 45,000 Americans were thrown into darkness.
No power. No heat. No working oxygen machines. One person died.
This was not some Hollywood cyberattack. It was real. It was local. And it was deadly.
Among those left in the dark? Thousands of military families stationed at Fort Bragg, one of America’s most important military bases.
That was the moment the alarm bells should have gone off across the country.
Because that attack did not just knock out power, it exposed something far more dangerous:
America’s power grid is so fragile, it can be disabled with a few bullets and a bad attitude.
And it was not an isolated event. From rolling blackouts in California to winter failures in Texas, the system that powers our daily lives is buckling.
Now here is the terrifying part:
The problem is not getting better. It is getting worse.
The Grid That Time Forgot
The average piece of power infrastructure in the U.S. is over 40 years old. Some are pushing 70.
That is like trying to power your iPhone with an engine built for a 1955 pickup truck.
In 2025, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave our energy system a D+ rating. That is a downgrade from a C- just four years earlier.
Translation? The grid is literally decaying beneath our feet.
This is not just about inconvenience. It is about national survival.
Because right now, demand is exploding.
AI data centers are multiplying like rabbits
Electric vehicles are swallowing megawatts
Entire factories are relocating back to the U.S.
And we do not have the juice to power it.
The Department of Energy recently warned that, without urgent upgrades, blackout hours could rise 100 times by 2030.
That means some Americans could be living without power for up to 34 days a year.
Let that sink in.
The Double Squeeze: More Demand, Less Supply
We are facing a terrifying equation:
On one side, power demand is set to surge 25% by 2030 and up to 80% by 2050.
On the other, over 100 gigawatts of steady, reliable power is retiring by 2030, with only a fraction of that being replaced.
That is like pulling five engines off a passenger jet and only bolting one back on.
The result? A system with no cushion. No safety net.
One heatwave, one storm, one cyberattack, and the whole thing collapses.
Meanwhile, in China...
While our grid wheezes and sputters, China’s is purring.
They have built over 40 ultra high voltage (UHV) transmission lines. We have built zero.
China can reroute vast amounts of power across thousands of miles in seconds. We struggle to send a single line across state borders.
They complete new high-voltage projects in five years. We take 20.
And while our factories lose power during heatwaves, China has a reserve margin of up to 100%.
They are building for abundance. We are rationing for scarcity.
This is not just a difference in infrastructure. It is a difference in mindset.
Power = Prosperity = Power
Every great technological breakthrough, from AI to electric vehicles to quantum computing, runs on electricity.
If we cannot supply it, we do not just lose power.
We lose the future.
Already, some U.S. tech firms are building their own power plants because they do not trust the grid. That is not innovation. That is survival.
And here is where it gets even more dangerous:
Our military runs on the civilian grid.
A coordinated attack, or just bad luck during a storm, could cripple bases, freeze supply chains, and blind our defense systems.
No electricity, no readiness. No power, no defense.
Rebuilding the Grid Is Not Optional. It Is Survival.
The good news? The solution is clear.
The bad news? It will not be cheap, fast, or easy.
We need to treat this like the Moonshot of the 21st century:
Streamline permits for new transmission
Incentivize public-private partnerships
Deploy smart grid tech and AI-powered load balancing
Build ultra-high voltage lines across energy-rich regions
Onshore critical grid equipment manufacturing
China is investing nearly $90 billion this year into its grid.
We are spending a fraction of that.
If we want to lead in the age of electrification, we need to start acting like it.
Here Is What You Can Do
This is not just an engineer’s problem. It is a you problem.
You can help by:
Raising awareness. Most Americans have no idea how fragile the grid really is.
Pushing leaders to act. Call your reps. Support legislation. Show this to your mayor.
Investing locally. Support microgrids, solar backups, and energy storage in your community.
And at the very least, prepare yourself.
We do not know when the next blackout will hit.
But when it does, it will not just take out the lights. It could take out our future.
Let us fix this. Before it fixes us.
Stay Sharp,
Gideon Ashwood