Data Centers Are Driving a US Gas Boom

data centers are Demand for gas-fired electricity has increased in the US 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 tied to gas projects that will power data centers – equivalent to the energy that would power millions of American homes.

The findings from Global Energy Monitor, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that tracks oil and gas development, come as the Trump administration is encouraging data center construction and dismantling pollution regulations on power plants and oil and gas extraction. They would also certainly mean an increase in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, even if some of the projects tracked by the Global Energy Monitor are never completed.

“When you’re talking about this size of build-out the implications are huge,” 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 Monitor research.)

Building out all the gas-fired power infrastructure that was in development late last year could increase the U.S. gas fleet by nearly 50 percent, according to Global Energy Monitor findings. The US currently has about 565 gigawatts of gas-fired electricity on the grid. If all of the projects in the development pipeline are built, it would add approximately 252 gigawatts of gas power to the U.S. fleet. (Estimates vary, but 1 gigawatt could power up to one million homes, depending on the region’s energy use.)

Data centers have helped nearly triple the demand for gas-fired electricity in the US over the past two years. When the Global Energy Monitor last released its tracker for early 2024, it recorded about 85 gigawatts of gas-fired electricity in the development pipeline in the US. That growth was only explicitly earmarked for data centers over 4 gigawatts. But in 2025, more than 97 gigawatts of demand tracked was from projects that would be used to power data centers – nearly 25 times more than the 2024 figure.

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

To put together the research, Global Energy Monitor reviewed publicly available sources of data on gas power build-out in the pipeline. These include state-level regulatory filings, air quality permits and companies’ public announcements. (Martos says the group compared its findings to data held by the industry as a benchmark.)

As data center construction continues across the country, developers are scrambling to secure power from any and all sources – and utilities are racing to meet projected demand. That means dirty power sources are getting a second chance to stay online: Coal-fired power plants across the country have recently been granted extensions to their retirement dates, boosted by the Trump administration’s coal-friendly policies.

Natural gas is a cleaner electricity option than coal-fired power, but gas plants emit CO₂ emissions. About 35 percent of US energy-related CO₂ Emissions in 2022 came from burning natural gas.

“Gas is cleaner than coal when burned, but when you’re talking about that much gas, you’re talking about a lot of CO₂ It’s also associated with that,” Banks says.

A major concern with natural gas is methane leakage during the extraction process. Methane remains in the atmosphere for a shorter period of time than CO₂But over a period of 20 years it is 80 times more powerful. Climate scientists say reducing methane emissions in the short term is important to controlling climate change in the long term. It is estimated that oil and gas production accounts for one third of all global methane leakage; America is the largest producer of natural gas in the world.