It’s official: Data centers are slowing America’s shift away from coal

The nation's shift away from coal is stalling, and the rise of AI data centers is a big reason why. A new Energy Information Administration report found that carbon emissions from U.S. power plants rose 4 percent last year, driven by a 13 percent jump in coal power generation. For decades, electricity demand had stayed flat, so utilities planned to retire old coal plants and lean on natural gas and renewables. Data centers, which run around the clock and could account for more than 10 percent of U.S. electricity use by 2030, have pushed demand up faster than expected, keeping aging coal plants running longer.

Coal has also gotten a boost because it's currently cheaper than natural gas, and because the Trump administration has issued emergency orders blocking the retirement of several coal plants. Those specific plants are actually running less than before, but coal generation has risen almost everywhere outside the Western U.S. Virginia, home to the world's largest AI data center cluster, nearly doubled its coal power output.

None of this changes anything you need to do at home, but it matters for the bigger picture behind home electrification. Cleaning up the power grid is what makes switching things like heating and cars to electricity actually cut emissions. Solar and wind are still growing and now often beat coal on sunny days, but coal generation isn't shrinking to match. Analysts expect coal to keep declining over time, but for now it's not going away as fast as climate goals need it to.