"Data Centers Are Driving a US Gas Boom"

"Gas projects in the US pipeline explicitly linked to data centers increased by almost 25 times over the past two years, according to new research from Global Energy Monitor."

"Data centers have caused the demand for gas-fired power in the US to explode over the past two years, according to new research released Wednesday. More than a third of this new demand, the research found, is explicitly linked to gas projects that will power data centers—the equivalent of energy that would power tens of millions of US homes.

The findings from Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco–based nonprofit that tracks oil and gas developments, come as the Trump administration is both encouraging data center build-out and doing away with pollution regulations on power plants and oil and gas extraction. They will also almost certainly mean an increase in US greenhouse gas emissions, even if some of the projects tracked by Global Energy Monitor never get built.

“The implications are huge when you’re talking about this size of a build-out,” says Jonathan Banks, a senior climate adviser at Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit that works to reduce emissions. (Clean Air Task Force was not involved in the Global Energy Monitor research.)"

Molly Taft reports for WIRED January 28, 2026.

Source: WIRED, 01/29/2026