The U.S. electrical grid is the largest, most complex, and most expensive machine ever built—and it’s aging rapidly. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, 70% of transmission lines are over 25 years old, and the large power transformers responsible for handling 90% of the country’s electricity flow are over 40 years old.

 
The systems that power modern society are humanity's biggest impact on the environment, emitting around 50 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. The grid, along with fuel extraction and refining processes, has a massive environmental footprint, depleting natural resources, degrading air and water quality, and damaging ecosystems and wildlife. 

Most of the grid is exposed to outside elements, exposed to damage from sun, wind, heat, cold, and extreme weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, and natural disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, and wildfires. In 2003, a tree branch in Northeastern Ohio touched a sagging high-voltage line, leading to a blackout that affected over 55 million people across eight states for up to two days.

Grid outages are becoming more frequent and lasting longer. In 2021, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the U.S. electrical grid a grade of "C-" in its Infrastructure Report Card.

The push to “electrify everything”—adding the massive loads of home heating and transportation to the grid—will add significant stress to the grid. 

The Department of Homeland Security ranks the grid's vulnerability as one of the highest threats to national security, making it a soft target for hackers and saboteurs. In mid-2021, the Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest in the U.S., was shut down by a ransomware attack, costing nearly $5 million. Physical attacks on substations are also rising, with over 700 documented incidents in the last 15 years.

The grid operates at only about 35% efficiency, meaning 65% of the fuel consumed by power plants is wasted during generation, transmission, and distribution—much of it lost as heat through evaporative cooling towers at remote power plants.

Perhaps the most significant challenge is the grid's limited reach and affordability, especially in emerging economies. Extending and maintaining the grid is prohibitively expensive, leaving nearly 3 billion people—about 40% of the global population—consuming less energy than the average American refrigerator.