A query to an AI consumes energy, while a generated image or video consumes much more. This tool converts your daily usage into energy and CO₂ emissions, with sourced orders of magnitude.
How to use it
- Choose an assumption (low, median, or high) and the electricity mix of the relevant country.
- Indicate how many short queries, medium queries, reasoning tasks, long-context tasks, images, and videos you generate per day.
- Read the energy per day and per month, the monthly and annual emissions, and meaningful equivalents.
The principles behind the calculation
- Each type of use has an energy consumption per unit, in watt-hours, according to three assumptions; the table cites the source of each value and a confidence level.
- The emissions are the energy multiplied by the carbon intensity of the chosen electricity grid, in grams of CO₂e per kWh.
- The equivalents (LED bulb, smartphone charge, car kilometers) help visualize the orders of magnitude.
Limitations to be aware of
Emissions linked to hardware manufacturing are not included, and published values vary greatly depending on the methods: treat the results as orders of magnitude.
