Data center demand to push US power use to record highs in 2025, '26, EIA says
(Reuters) -Power-hungry data centers that provide computing power for artificial intelligence and crypto currency will push U.S. electricity consumption to record highs in 2025 and 2026, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO) on Tuesday.
The EIA projected power demand will rise to 4,193 billion kilowatt hours (kWh) in 2025 and 4,283 billion kWh in 2026 from a record 4,097 billion kWh in 2024.
In addition to data centers, American homes and businesses are expected to use more electricity for heat and transportation.
The EIA forecast 2025 power sales will rise to 1,517 billion kWh for residential consumers, 1,474 billion kWh for commercial customers and 1,055 billion kWh for industrial customers.
Those forecasts compare to all-time highs of 1,509 billion kWh for residential consumers in 2022, 1,434 billion kWh in 2024 for commercial customers and 1,064 billion kWh in 2000 for industrial customers.
The EIA said natural gas' share of power generation would slide from 42% in 2024 to 40% in 2025 and 2026. Coal's share will hold at 16% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 15% in 2026, as renewable output rises.
The percentage of renewable generation will rise from 23% in 2024 to 25% in 2025 and 27% in 2026, while nuclear power's share will hold at 19% in 2025, the same as 2024, before easing to 18% in 2026, according to the outlook.
EIA projected gas sales in 2025 would rise to 13.1 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) for residential consumers, 9.7 bcfd for commercial customers and 23.5 bcfd for industrial customers, but fall to 35.9 bcfd for power generation.
That compares with all-time highs of 14.3 bcfd in 1996 for residential consumers, 9.6 bcfd in 2019 for commercial customers, 23.8 bcfd in 1973 for industrial customers and 36.9 bcfd in 2024 for power generation.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Chinese state media calls U.S. a 'surveillance empire' over trackers in chip shipments
BEIJING (Reuters) -The United States' practice of installing location trackers in chip shipments at risk of diversion to China reflects the "instincts of a surveillance empire," China's state-run media outlet Xinhua said in a commentary published on Friday. Reuters reported earlier this week that U.S. authorities had secretly placed location tracking devices in targeted shipments of advanced chips to detect diversions to China, which is under U.S. curbs for advanced chip exports. The Xinhua commentary, titled "America turns chip trade into a surveillance game," cited "reports" that Washington had embedded such trackers, accusing the United States of running "the world's most sprawling intelligence apparatus". The U.S. government has in the past few years tightened restrictions on the exports of advanced chips as well as related technology and equipments to China, as the two superpowers vie for technological dominance. The Chinese commentary follows longstanding accusations from Washington and its Western allies that China could use some exported products, from telecommunications equipment to vehicles, for surveillance, posing potential security risks. In 2022, the Biden administration banned the sale and import of new telecommunications equipment from several Chinese firms, including Huawei, citing national security concerns. In January, it intensified scrutiny by targeting China-made cars and trucks. In its commentary, Xinhua accused the U.S. government of seeing its trading partners as "rivals to be tripped up or taken down," adding that "if U.S. chips are seen as Trojan horses for surveillance, customers will look elsewhere." China's cyberspace watchdog last month said it had asked U.S. chipmaker Nvidia to explain whether its H20 chips had any backdoor security risks - a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls. Chinese authorities have also cautioned domestic tech firms over their use of H20 chips, Reuters recently reported. Sign in to access your portfolio
New York Post
an hour ago
- New York Post
Air Canada cabin staff go on strike, grounding hundreds of flights
Air Canada's unionized flight attendants walked off the job early on Saturday morning after contract talks with the country's largest carrier stalled, in a move that could disrupt travel plans for more than 100,000 passengers. The union representing more than 10,000 Air Canada flight attendants confirmed the action in a social media post at around 1:00 a.m. in the first strike by cabin crew since 1985. Attendants are currently paid when the plane is moving and the union was seeking to also be compensated for time on the ground between flights and helping passengers board. 5 Air Canada union activists interrupt a press conference by airline executives on Aug. 14, 2025. REUTERS Montreal-based Air Canada, which is expected to respond quickly by locking out the workers, has said it anticipated canceling 500 flights by the end of Friday during the busy summer travel season. It expected around 100,000 people to be affected on Friday alone. Flight attendants are likely on Saturday to picket at major Canadian airports, where passengers were already trying to secure new bookings earlier in the week, as the carrier gradually wound down operations. Passenger Freddy Ramos, 24, said on Friday at Canada's largest airport in Toronto that his earlier flight was canceled due to the labor dispute and he had been rebooked by Air Canada to a different destination. 'Probably 10 minutes prior to boarding, our gate got changed and then it was canceled and then it was delayed and then it was canceled again,' he said. 5 Air Canada planes sit on the tarmac at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada on Aug. 14, 2025. Getty Images 5 Air Canada flight attendants walk through the terminal of Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in Dorval, Quebec on Aug. 15, 2025. AP Air Canada and its low-cost affiliate Air Canada Rouge normally carry about 130,000 customers a day. Air Canada is also the foreign carrier with the largest number of flights to the US. While the dispute has generated support from passengers on social media for the flight attendants, Canadian businesses reeling from a trade dispute with the United States urged the federal government to impose binding arbitration on both sides, which would end the strike. Air Canada has asked the minority Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney to order both sides into binding arbitration although the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the attendants, said it opposed the move. The Canada Labour Code gives Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu the right to ask the country's Industrial Relations Board to impose binding arbitration in the interests of protecting the economy. Hajdu has repeatedly urged the two sides, which are not bargaining, to return to the table. The union has said Air Canada offered to begin compensating flight attendants for some work that is now unpaid but only at 50% of their hourly rate. 5 Flight attendants are likely on Saturday to picket at major Canadian airports, where passengers were already trying to secure new bookings earlier in the week, as the carrier gradually wound down operations. AP 5 A passenger looks at the canceled and delayed Air Canada flights on a departure board at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. AP The carrier had offered a 38% increase in total compensation for flight attendants over four years, with a 25% raise in the first year, which the union said was insufficient. In a note to clients on Friday, analysts at financial services firm TD Cowen urged the carrier to 'extend an olive branch to end the impasse,' adding that investors are worried that any cost savings on labor are outweighed by lost earnings in the airline's most important quarter. 'We think it would be best for AC to achieve labor peace,' the note said. 'Not budging on negotiations risks being a Pyrrhic victory.'
Los Angeles Times
3 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump tax law could cause Medicare cuts if Congress doesn't act, CBO says
WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficits caused by President Trump's tax and spending law could trigger automatic cuts to Medicare if Congress does not act, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported Friday. The CBO estimates that Medicare, the federal health insurance program for Americans over age 65, could potentially see as much as $491 billion in cuts from 2027 to 2034 if Congress does not act to mitigate a 2010 law that forces across-the-board cuts to many federal programs once legislation increases the federal deficit. The latest report from CBO showed how Trump's signature tax and spending law could put new pressure on federal programs that are bedrocks of the American social safety net. Trump and Republicans pledged not to cut Medicare as part of the legislation, but the estimated $3.4 trillion that the law adds to the federal deficit over the next decade means that many Medicare programs could see cuts. In the past, Congress has always acted to mitigate cuts to Medicare and other programs, but it would take some bipartisan cooperation to do so. Democrats, who requested the analysis from CBO, jumped on the potential cuts. 'Republicans knew their tax breaks for billionaires would force over half a trillion dollars in Medicare cuts — and they did it anyway,' Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement. 'American families simply cannot afford Donald Trump's attacks on Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare.' Hospitals in rural parts of the country are already grappling with cuts to Medicaid, which is available to people with low incomes, and cuts to Medicare could exacerbate their shortfalls. As Republicans muscled the bill through Congress and are now selling it to voters back home, they have been critical of how the CBO has analyzed the bill. They have also argued that the tax cuts will spur economic growth and pointed to $50 billion in funding for rural hospitals that was included in the package. Groves writes for the Associated Press.
