US Data Center Natural Gas Demand Could Surpass Germany and Japan Combined by 2035

TechRadar reported that the 18 billion cubic feet per day figure is nearly double what the data predicted just nine months earlier. Those latest figures assume that some upcoming and announced projects may not be built; if every project proceeded, consumption would reach even higher levels.

The next decade will likely see data centers become the second-biggest source of US natural gas demand growth, behind only the country's LNG exports, according to the report. With national energy generation and grids struggling to keep up, Bloomberg believes 2.9 billion to 3.4 billion cubic feet per day could come from on-site, self-generated energy. That is roughly as much as the entire data center sector consumes today, TechRadar said.

The report also warns that the remaining consumption supplied by the grid could lead to higher natural gas prices over the next 10 years. The data estimate an additional 1 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per day.

Henry Eaton, a BloombergNEF gas market analyst, stressed that the projections include "fairly large" error bars because of the number of variables and unpredictability involved. Actual consumption could therefore be substantially higher or lower, he said.

Separately, another recent study found that US data centers could consume a combined 426 TWh by 2030. Moody's analysts cited the importance of new energy generation as well as transmission infrastructure to connect campuses and homes nationally with cleaner and more reliable energy, TechRadar reported.