The scale of data centers has become so immense that their energy consumption now rivals that of entire U.S. states. Consider, for instance, Meta’s Hyperion AI data center. Upon its completion, this new AI data facility is projected to consume power equivalent to South Dakota’s total usage.
In the preceding week, Meta disclosed its intention to finance seven additional natural gas power stations—complementing the three it had previously pledged to construct—all aimed at bolstering the $27 billion data facility. Collectively, these ten power generating facilities situated in Louisiana are anticipated to produce approximately 7.5 gigawatts of power, a figure marginally surpassing the overall generating capability of the Mount Rushmore State.
Similar to numerous technology corporations, Meta has historically championed its environmental and climate credentials. It routinely issues reports on sustainability, often boasting about its acquisitions of renewable energy. In essence, it secured a nuclear power facility’s output for two decades.
The Hyperion data center complex belonging to Meta in Louisiana is poised to challenge the corporation’s pledges.
Natural gas has often been lauded as an “interim fuel”—advocating for the construction of some natural gas power facilities presently, as renewable sources, battery storage, and nuclear power mature. This is very likely the internal rationale Meta employs to vindicate its decision.
However, the argument for “bridge fuel” has persisted for many decades, and its credibility is diminishing. The cost of renewable energy and battery systems has drastically fallen, whereas the expenses for gas turbines have surged. Given Meta’s prominent role in acquiring solar, battery, and nuclear power in recent times, its choice to heavily invest in natural gas appears considerably more puzzling.
TechCrunch contacted Meta. The corporation failed to respond to several inquiries for a statement.
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These enormous turbines located in Louisiana are projected to release 12.4 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually, as per TechCrunch’s computations derived from Department of Energy statistics. This volume represents a 50% increase over Meta’s total carbon emissions in 2024, the latest year for which such figures exist.
Furthermore, that particular figure understates the actual climatic effect, as it omits emissions from natural gas supply chain leakages.
Methane, which constitutes the primary element of natural gas, contributes 84 times more to global warming than carbon dioxide. Even minimal leakage rates of 0.2% throughout the supply chain are sufficient to render natural gas’s environmental impact more detrimental than that of coal. Within the U.S., the generation and transport pipelines of natural gas permit methane to escape at a rate approaching 3%. This can scarcely be considered clean energy.
The corporation’s most recent sustainability assessment omits any reference to methane emissions. Neither methane nor natural gas is mentioned whatsoever. Nevertheless, this fuel is set to emerge as a significant contributor to Meta’s carbon emissions in the forthcoming years.
The corporation might indeed adhere to its climate commitment and discover a method to counterbalance these emissions via carbon removal credits. However, it will now require considerably more such credits, in addition to a transparent disclosure of the precise volume of methane that will escape into the atmosphere to fuel its novel power facilities.
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