US Data Centers to Outpace German and Japanese Gas Consumption by 2035
A new report from BloombergNEF forecasts that data centers powering the AI industry's expansion will consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035.
The research firm estimates that AI-driven data centers could consume approximately 18 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day within the next decade, nearly double its previous estimate from nine months earlier.
This growth in demand is expected to come primarily from grid-connected data centers, which are projected to drive far greater demand growth, adding roughly 15 billion cubic feet of daily consumption by 2035.
The additional demand would generate approximately 1 million metric tons of extra greenhouse gas emissions daily, equivalent to about 12% of current total US emissions.