Data centers drive US gas boom

Its data centers Demand for gas-fired power has surged in the United States over the past two years, according to new research released Wednesday. The research found that more than a third of this new demand is clearly linked Gas projects That would force Data centers– The equivalent of energy that would power tens of millions of homes in the United States.

the Results From Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that tracks oil and gas developments, it comes as the Trump administration encourages the construction of data centers and eliminates pollution regulations at power plants and oil and gas extraction. It will almost certainly mean an increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, even if some of the projects tracked by Global Energy Monitor never get built.

“The implications are huge when we’re talking about this scale of construction,” says Jonathan Banks, a senior climate adviser at the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit that works to reduce emissions. (The Clean Air Task Force was not involved in the Global Energy Watch research.)

Building out all of the gas-fired energy infrastructure that was under development at the end of last year could increase the U.S. gas fleet by nearly 50 percent, according to Global Energy Monitor findings. US She currently has About 565 GW of gas-fired power is on the grid. If all projects under development are built, they will add approximately 252 gigawatts of gas capacity to the U.S. fleet. (Estimates vary, but one gigawatt could power up to 1 million homes, depending on energy use in the region.)

Data centers have helped demand for gas-fired power in the United States nearly triple over the past two years. When Global Energy Monitor last released its tracker, in early 2024, it recorded about 85 gigawatts of gas-generated power in the U.S. development pipeline. Just over 4 GW of this development has been allocated explicitly to data centres. But in 2025, more than 97 gigawatts of demand has been tracked from projects that will be used to power data centers, nearly 25 times higher than 2024 numbers.

“About a year and a half ago, we started seeing this increase in proposals for data centers specifically,” says Jenny Martos, a research analyst at Global Energy Monitor who worked on the report.

To compile the research, Global Energy Monitor reviewed publicly available data sources on pipeline gas power construction. These include state-level regulatory filings, air quality permits, and public announcements from companies. (Martus says the group compared its findings with data the industry keeps as a benchmark.)

As data centers continue to be built across the country, developers are scrambling to secure power from any and all sources — and utilities are racing to meet expected demand. That means the dirtiest energy sources are getting a second chance to stay online: Coal-fired power plants across the country recently got extensions on their retirement dates, boosted by coal-friendly policies from the Trump administration.

Natural gas is a much cleaner energy option than coal-fired power, but gas plants release carbon dioxide₂ emissions. on 35 percent of US energy related a company₂ emissions in 2022 It came from burning natural gas.

“Gas is cleaner to burn than coal, but when you’re talking about that amount of gas, you’re talking about a lot of carbon dioxide.”₂ “It’s relatable to her, too,” Banks says.

The biggest concern with natural gas is methane leakage during the extraction process. Methane stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time than carbon dioxide₂But it is 80 times stronger over a 20-year period. Climate scientists say cutting methane emissions in the short term is crucial to controlling climate change in the long term. It is estimated that oil and gas production accounts for one-third of all methane leaks globally. The United States is The world’s largest natural gas producer.