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

These accusations are extremely uncharitable. Trump’s dismantling of clean energy is an entirely different topic, and Grist has published multiple articles on it.

But even ignoring all that, the article literally addresses this:

The national increase in power sector emissions represents the reversal of a longstanding trend. Before the AI boom, U.S. power consumption had been flat for decades . Utilities, grid operators, and energy planners had assumed that pattern would continue, and many planned to retire their older and dirtier coal plants with the expectation that natural gas and renewables could replace them. Instead, electricity demand is rising much faster than anticipated. Data centers could make up more than 10 percent of U.S. electricity usage by 2030, and they operate around the clock, including when wind and solar farm output is low .