Meta’s Massive Gas Habit: Powering AI by Burning the Bridge

Meta is going on a massive natural gas spending spree to feed its hungry AI data centers. The company’s energy needs have grown so large that they now match the power consumption of entire states. A prime example is the new Hyperion AI data center. Once this facility is finished, it will draw as much electricity as the entire state of South Dakota. To keep the lights on, Meta recently announced it will fund seven new natural gas power plants on top of the three it had already planned. This brings the total to ten power plants in Louisiana dedicated to supporting a single $27 billion data center.

When you combine all ten plants, they will generate around 7.5 gigawatts of electricity. That is slightly more than the total power capacity of South Dakota. For a company that often talks about its green energy goals and climate reports, this is a massive shift in strategy. In the past, Meta has bragged about buying renewable energy and even effectively purchasing a nuclear power plant for 20 years. But the Hyperion site is a different story. It shows that when it comes to the AI race, Meta is willing to put its environmental reputation on the line to get the power it needs right now.

The tech industry often calls natural gas a bridge fuel. The idea is to build a few gas plants now while we wait for solar, wind, and batteries to get better. This is likely how Meta justifies the move to itself. But experts point out that people have used the bridge fuel excuse for decades. Meanwhile, the price of renewable energy has crashed, and batteries have become much more efficient. At the same time, the cost of gas turbines has gone up. Choosing to go big on natural gas now is a confusing choice for a company that was once a leader in green energy.

The environmental cost of this decision is huge. Those massive turbines in Louisiana will dump 12.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the air every single year. That is 50% more than Meta’s entire carbon footprint in 2024. Even worse, that number is likely a low estimate. It doesn’t count the methane that leaks out of the natural gas supply chain. Methane is a silent killer for the climate because it warms the planet 84 times more than carbon dioxide. Recent data shows that gas production in the U.S. leaks methane at a rate of 3%, which makes it just as dirty as coal.

Meta’s latest sustainability report doesn’t say a word about these methane leaks or the shift to natural gas. Instead, the company seems to be banking on carbon removal credits to balance the books. They will have to buy a lot of those credits to offset the pollution from ten power plants. They will also need to be much more honest about how much methane is leaking into the atmosphere to power their new AI models. The bridge to the future is looking a lot like a return to the past.

Feeding a giant AI model requires a constant, massive stream of power that solar and wind can’t always provide on their own yet. Meta has decided that natural gas is the only way to keep their data centers running 24/7 without interruption. But as the climate crisis gets worse, the public might start asking if the benefit of faster AI is worth the cost of a warming planet. For now, Meta is choosing growth over its green promises, and the state of Louisiana is paying the price in emissions.