AI's hunger is pushing data center developers in the US the UK and mainland Europe to build their own on-site gas power stations.
Why? Connecting to the main electricity grid is taking too long.
These new plants could provide a massive 181 gigawatts, almost four times what Great Britain uses at peak, but there's a catch: they could emit about 345m metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent a year in the US.
Emissions equal 72.8 million fossil-fuel cars
To put it in perspective, that's about as much pollution as 72.8 million fossil-fuel cars. And with the U.N. climate summit underway, this move has sparked debate about balancing tech growth with environmental responsibility.
Mark Daly, the head of datacentres and emerging tech at BloombergNEF, points out that AI data centers might need 2,354 terawatt-hours of electricity by 2035, a huge jump, making clean energy solutions and faster grid upgrades more urgent than ever.
In places like Buckinghamshire, UK some sites are already seeking to build on-site gas-fired power stations while waiting for grid connections.