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The explosion of new data centers being proposed and built around the U.S. has increased demand for energy to keep them powered and cooled. The Electric Power Research Institute estimates that data centers could consume up to 9% of U.S. electricity generation annually by 2030, up from 4% of total load in 2023.
A team of researchers, led by Gang Wu, the Elvera and William R. Stuckenberg Professor in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has made strides toward making a better low-temperature fuel cell that could allow renewable energy to relieve some of the burden on electricity or on fuel for transportation. Collaborators include teams from Brookhaven National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Northeastern University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Results of their research were published Aug. 6, 2026, in Nature Nanotechnology.
“If a data center is able to supply its electricity itself by using a fuel cell, it would directly convert hydrogen and other fuels into the electricity, reducing the burden on the energy grid,” Wu said.
