Data Centers Are Driving an Alarming Gas Power Expansion in the US
The demand for natural gas power to support data centers in the US has surged from 4 gigawatts in early 2024 to over 189 gigawatts by mid-2026. This rapid expansion is raising concerns about climate impacts and the environmental cost of inefficient gas turbines.
Why it matters
The massive energy requirements of AI and data centers are creating a significant conflict between technological growth and climate change mitigation goals.
Global Energy Monitor, a research firm, has been tracking gas-powered projects that have been announced, are in development, or are under construction in the US. In January, the group found that there were 97 gigawatts of gas projects in development exclusively for data centers at the end of 2025, a massive increase from just 4 gigawatts tracked in early 2024. Now, in an update to the research released Tuesday, the group says that as of mid-2026, that demand pipeline has jumped to more than 189 gigawatts. (A gigawatt can power roughly a million homes.)
“Increasingly, the US gas power buildout is getting tied directly to the data center buildout—you can’t talk about one without the other,” says Jenny Martos, a research analyst at Global Energy Monitor who worked on the report.
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