Plug-In Power Signals An Energy Future Very Different From the Present

BusinessPolicyPlug-In Power Signals An Energy Future Very Different From the PresentByJohn Tamny,Contributor.Follow AuthorApr 27, 2026, 02:00pm EDT07 November 2022, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Stralsund: Solar modules for a so-called balcony power plant hang on a balcony. As of Tuesday, citizens in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania can apply for funding for so-called plug-in balcony photovoltaic systems. Photo: Stefan Sauer/dpa (Photo by Stefan Sauer/picture alliance via Getty Images)dpa/picture alliance via Getty ImagesIn business, the present is a lousy predictor of the future. Entrepreneurs vivify the previous truth. Their healthy disdain for “know your customer” means they see the present as wholly inadequate for consumers who haven’t a faint clue about what they really want. Only for entrepreneurs to proceed to rewrite the future given their belief that what consumers will accept has nothing to do with what they should. See the rise of solar panels that consumers can set up outside their houses, and literally plug into wall outlets inside those same houses. The panels represent a simple way for homeowners to reduce their electricity bills. An editorial at the Washington Post indicated that critics of solar plug-ins say they’ll lead to attached-to-the-grid electricity users not paying their so-called “fair share” for the grid, but it’s not the job of consumers to prop up their service providers. Furthermore, it’s increasingly not necessary. As is well known now, the growing question as you’re reading this has to do with how capably electricity grids will be able to meet consumer needs during summer months while demand for electricity produced on the grids grows. Assuming what’s true about the expected electricity needs of data centers, not to mention the myriad energy-consuming businesses that emerge because of data centers, fears (whether reasonable or not) about unused energy produced on the grid and “fair share” are increasingly a problem of the past. Which fu...