us data centers to consume more gas than germany and japan by 2035
us data centers are projected to consume 18 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day by 2035, driven by ai demand growth, potentially increasing natural gas prices and greenhouse gas emissions.
the ai race is driving a surge in us data center construction, with projected natural gas consumption expected to reach 18 billion cubic feet per day by 2035, according to a bloombergnef report. this represents a significant increase from previous predictions and is driven by the growing demand for ai and data center capacity. on-site-powered data centers, such as those announced by meta, microsoft, google, and amazon, will consume 2.9 billion to 3.4 billion cubic feet per day by 2035. however, grid-connected data centers are predicted to drive an additional 15 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas consumption by the power sector, which could lead to higher natural gas prices and increased greenhouse gas emissions. the additional demand from data centers will generate 1 million metric tons more greenhouse gas pollution daily, equivalent to about 12% of total us greenhouse gas emissions today.