America Needs More Energy. Can We Build It Fast Enough? with ClearPath CEO Jeremy Harrell
As electricity demand surges for the first time in decades, the United States faces a challenge that is both simple and enormously complicated: We need more power.
Artificial intelligence and data centers are driving new electricity demand. Manufacturing is returning to the United States. Electrification continues across the economy. At the same time, the country is trying to reduce emissions, strengthen domestic supply chains and compete with China in the technologies that will shape the global energy system.
Jeremy Harrell believes America has the innovation to meet the moment. The bigger question is whether we can actually build fast enough.
On this episode of Path to Zero, Tucker sits down with Harrell, CEO of ClearPath, a conservative clean energy advocacy organization focused on accelerating American innovation to reduce global energy emissions.
The conversation ranged from advanced nuclear and next-generation geothermal to natural gas, carbon capture, critical minerals and the urgent need to reform a permitting system Harrell says is slowing American progress.
According to Harrell, after years of developing promising technologies, America may be entering a new era of actual deployment.
From Innovation to Deployment
For more than two decades, U.S. electricity demand remained relatively flat. That era appears to be ending.
AI, data centers, advanced manufacturing and broader electrification are changing the equation. Harrell believes that rising demand is also changing how investors think about new energy technologies.
“We’re seeing investors’ risk appetite change dramatically because they know we need more electrons,” he said.
That is creating new momentum behind technologies that once seemed perpetually years away from widespread deployment.
“We’re in this unique moment where we’re in deployment land,” Harrell said, “and we’re going to see these new American technologies really take off.”
For ClearPath, the goal is to help accelerate that process through an approach centered on innovation rather than regulation and markets rather than mandates.
Every Electron Matters
Harrell describes ClearPath’s philosophy as an “all of the above” energy strategy.
“We think this country needs every electron that we can put on the grid,” he said.
That includes established resources like wind, solar and natural gas, but ClearPath focuses much of its work on technologies that still need help moving down the cost curve and into commercial deployment.
Two areas Harrell is particularly excited about are advanced nuclear and next-generation geothermal.
New geothermal technologies could dramatically expand where the resource can be developed by applying advanced drilling techniques and closed-loop systems. Meanwhile, Harrell believes the United States may be on the verge of a nuclear resurgence as new reactor designs move closer to deployment and attract significant private and international investment.
He also sees opportunities in long-duration energy storage, carbon capture and lower-emission technologies for industries such as cement, steel and fertilizer.
The common thread is not choosing one winner. It is creating the conditions for multiple technologies to compete and scale.
Natural Gas Remains Essential
While much of the clean energy conversation focuses on emerging technologies, Harrell is equally clear about the continuing importance of natural gas.
“Gas is going to play a central role in the U.S. grid for the coming decades,” he said.
As electricity demand accelerates, Harrell sees no realistic path to meeting it without additional natural gas generation.
“There is no way that we can meet this rising demand moment without investing in more gas capacity.”
At the same time, he argues that the industry must continue reducing the lifecycle emissions associated with natural gas. That includes investing in methane detection and monitoring, modernizing infrastructure and developing market-driven approaches to reducing emissions throughout the supply chain.
For Harrell, the broader principle applies not only to natural gas but also to other traditional energy resources.
“It’s not about the fuel source,” he said. “It’s about dealing with the emissions and finding a way to do that affordably.”
That philosophy also shapes ClearPath’s support for carbon capture, particularly in parts of the world where coal and other emitting resources are likely to remain part of the energy mix for decades.
The Permitting System Is Broken
Of all the challenges we discussed, Harrell was perhaps most direct about permitting reform.
“The current system is broken,” he said. “It takes longer to get a federal permit in this country than it takes an 18-year-old to get a college degree.”
That delay affects virtually every part of the energy system: power plants, transmission lines, pipelines, factories and the infrastructure needed to bring new technologies to market.
Harrell believes communities should have a meaningful voice in decisions about projects that affect them. But he also argues that the process needs clear timelines, greater predictability and a point at which a project receives a definitive yes or no.
“We can’t delay,” he said. “We can’t let our partisan differences get in the way of U.S. competitiveness.”
Despite the polarization in Washington, Harrell is surprisingly optimistic about the possibility of bipartisan action. He believes a broad group of policymakers agrees that America needs to build more infrastructure, create jobs, strengthen the economy and compete globally.
In his view, permitting reform may be one of the largest opportunities for a significant bipartisan energy agreement.
Modernizing Government to Build Faster
Harrell supports a dramatic modernization of the federal permitting system.
Many agencies, he noted, still rely on outdated processes and technologies that make it difficult for different parts of government to communicate efficiently.
Harrell wants agencies to adopt modern digital tools, use common systems and streamline how permit applications are reviewed.
He pointed to emerging applications of advanced technology that could dramatically reduce review times without sacrificing the rigor of the process.
“Time is money,” Harrell said. “We need more predictability in this system.”
For him, permitting reform is not simply about deregulation. It is about creating a modern system capable of evaluating projects efficiently and giving developers the certainty needed to invest billions of dollars in long-term infrastructure.
The Competition With China
The ability to build is also increasingly tied to U.S. economic and national security.
Harrell said that if there is one issue that still brings together policymakers from across the political spectrum, it is competition with China.
From batteries and critical minerals to nuclear technology and advanced manufacturing, the United States remains dependent on foreign supply chains in several strategically important areas.
Harrell believes the country needs to produce more resources domestically, expand partnerships with allies and invest in research, recycling and manufacturing capacity.
“We’ve got to reduce our reliance on China,” he said. “That’s not going to happen overnight.”
The goal, in his view, is not isolation. Partnerships with countries such as Canada, Japan and France will remain critical. But the United States needs a stronger domestic foundation if it wants to lead the next generation of energy technology.
Balancing Clean, Affordable and Reliable
One of the clearest themes from our conversation was the need to stop treating energy priorities as mutually exclusive.
In recent years, Harrell believes the policy pendulum swung too heavily toward one part of the energy equation. Today, rising costs and concerns about reliability are forcing a broader conversation.
“We’ve got to balance clean, affordable and reliable as we try to drive our country forward,” he said.
More importantly, Harrell does not believe those goals necessarily require tradeoffs.
The challenge is to drive down the cost of lower-emission technologies until markets can adopt them at scale, while continuing to use the resources needed to keep energy reliable and affordable today.