U.S. Data Centers to Burn 18 Bcf/d of Gas by 2035, Outpacing Germany and Japan
Updated
Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 15
U.S. Data Centers to Burn 18 Bcf/d of Gas by 2035, Outpacing Germany and Japan
3 articles · Updated · TechCrunch · Sep 15
Summary
18 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas could be consumed by U.S. data centers by 2035, BloombergNEF said, nearly doubling its forecast from nine months ago even after discounting projects unlikely to be built.
15 billion cubic feet a day of that increase would come from grid-connected data centers, making them the biggest source of power-sector gas demand growth and about five times the increase from all other grid-connected sectors combined.
2.9 billion to 3.4 billion cubic feet a day would come from on-site gas plants planned by Meta, Microsoft, Google and Amazon—roughly equal to all data-center gas use today.
1 million metric tons of extra greenhouse gas pollution a day could result if the buildout materializes, while the combined pull from AI infrastructure and LNG exports could also push up gas prices and utility bills.