The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has found that energy efficiency improvements and demand flexibility in the U.S. grid could offset demand from AI data centers and other growing sources of load. By 2040, these measures could reduce U.S. energy demand by about 70 GW and peak demand by 60-200 GW. ACEEE recommends mandating performance incentive mechanisms for utilities and setting load flexibility goals to scale up energy efficiency and demand flexibility programs quickly with strong policy and financial support, offering a faster and cheaper alternative to building new power plants. These resources can help meet growing electric demand while ensuring reliability and affordability, targeting specific locations to defer or avoid the need for new infrastructure and saving families and businesses money.