Reuters: AI Data Center Boom Forces Old Peaker Plants Back Online

The exponential growth in energy consumption by AI centers has led to unexpected environmental consequences. According to a Reuters investigation from December 23, 2025, utility companies in the US and Europe are forced to delay closures and even reactivate obsolete fossil-fuel "peaker plants." These facilities, typically used only during peak demand, now operate continuously to ensure uninterrupted power for neural network training and inference clusters.

The investigation revealed that the return to "dirty" generation jeopardizes national and corporate decarbonization goals. Rising demand from tech giants is driving up reserve power prices, ultimately impacting residential consumer bills. Environmentalists are raising alarms about localized air pollution increases around major data centers. Experts warn: if AI adoption rates persist without breakthroughs in chip efficiency or green energy, the digital industry's carbon footprint could double in the coming years.

Source: Reuters