US building twice as much gas-fired capacity as China in AI boom, analysis finds
There has been a 76% increase in under-construction gas-fired projects amid ‘frenzy’ to build more datacenters The US has surged ahead of China in the building of new gas-fired power generation, largely to feed a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) that is adding vast amounts of planet-heating emissions, a new analysis has found. For decades, China’s rapid economic growth has seen it outpace the…
A recent analysis reveals that the United States is now constructing twice as much gas-fired capacity as China, driven by a surge in datacenter construction for artificial intelligence (AI). According to Global Energy Monitor's latest report, there has been a significant 76% increase in under-construction gas-fired projects in the US during the first half of this year.
This surge has reversed China's historical lead in adding new gas power generation, a trend that has persisted for decades. The US is now building nearly three times as much gas-fired capacity as China, with estimates suggesting a potential increase of around two-thirds in the US gas fleet if all projects are completed.
The majority of the new capacity is directly linked to a surge in upcoming datacenters, which require substantial electricity to meet the growing demand from AI. This proliferation of gas-powered datacenters threatens to increase US power emissions by up to 20%, according to one estimate. Jenny Martos, a project manager at Global Energy Monitor, highlights the climate implications of this development, stating that building all of this gas infrastructure for AI locks in decades of pollution and dependence on a volatile fuel cost, which will ultimately be passed on to rate payers.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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