Natural gas is a fact question. I have multiple sources who confirmed Leopold’s claims here, so I am 90% confident that if we wanted to do this with natural gas we could do that. I am 99%+ sure we need to get our permitting act together, and would even without AI as a consideration…
A key consideration is that if there is not time to build green energy including fission, and we must choose, then natural gas (IIUC) is superior to oil and obviously vastly superior to coal.
My other comment outlined how >20% of US electricity could be freed up quickly by conservation driven by high electricity prices. The other way the US could get >20% of current US electricity for AI without building new power plants is running the ones we have more. This can be done quickly for natural gas by taking it away from other uses (the high price will drive conservation). There are not that many other uses for coal, but agricultural residues or wood could potentially be used to co-fire in coal power plants. If people didn’t mind spending a lot of money on electricity, petroleum distillates could be diverted to some natural gas power plants.
My other comment outlined how >20% of US electricity could be freed up quickly by conservation driven by high electricity prices. The other way the US could get >20% of current US electricity for AI without building new power plants is running the ones we have more. This can be done quickly for natural gas by taking it away from other uses (the high price will drive conservation). There are not that many other uses for coal, but agricultural residues or wood could potentially be used to co-fire in coal power plants. If people didn’t mind spending a lot of money on electricity, petroleum distillates could be diverted to some natural gas power plants.