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 US in the addition of new gas power generation but a recent “frenzy” in datacenter construction for AI has reversed this, said Global Energy Monitor (Gem) in its new report. Continue reading...

Oliver Milman · Tue, Aug 25, 2026, 3:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

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 US in the addition of new gas power generation but a recent “frenzy” in datacenter construction for AI has reversed this, said Global Energy Monitor (Gem) in its new report.

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