- May 14, 2026
Staff Reporter | PNN:
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is now affecting not just medicine or climate change solutions, but also fossil fuel consumption and the environment. In particular, AI companies are building large data centers, most of which rely directly on fossil fuels for energy. This new trend has raised significant questions among environmentalists and poses new challenges for local communities.
The most recent example is Pulseide, an AI coding startup, currently constructing a data center over 500 acres in West Texas. This facility, named “Horizon”, will generate energy using natural gas from the Permian Basin, one of the country’s most productive oil and gas fields. The project will produce 2 gigawatts of computing power, equivalent to the total electric output of Hoover Dam.
This is not an isolated case. Other major AI players are following similar paths. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently visited their Stargate Data Center in Abilene, Texas, where he acknowledged, “We are burning gas to run this data center.”
Similarly, Meta has planned a massive data center in Richland Parish, Louisiana, covering an area equal to 1,700 football fields and producing 2 gigawatts of power, also relying on local natural gas for electricity generation.
AI companies view natural gas as a practical and necessary solution to meet their growing energy demands. However, local residents—especially in West Texas—are concerned about the environmental impacts of these new data centers. They worry about carbon emissions, environmental degradation, rising electricity costs, and water scarcity associated with gas-powered operations.
The rapid expansion of gas-dependent projects to meet AI energy needs is creating significant financial and environmental pressure on local communities. Experts warn that continued reliance on fossil fuels could lead to further environmental disasters in the future.
Currently, the environmental and employment impacts of these AI projects are gaining more attention, but government and corporate solutions remain unclear. Experts suggest that alternative energy sources such as solar or nuclear power could play a bigger role, although these would require long-term planning and implementation.
