Free tools · Digital
What do your AI chats really use?
Enter your daily AI use. We show a low, middle and high estimate, because published numbers differ a lot.
Your AI use, one year
Enter your numbers and press Calculate.
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Method and sources
Prompts times Wh per prompt, plus images times Wh per image, times 365. Then times the grid factor. Text: low 0.24, middle 0.3, high 0.34 Wh. Images: low and middle 2.9 Wh (study mean), high 11.49 Wh (least efficient model). The image figures come from open models on test hardware, not from commercial apps. Training the models is not included. Reasoning models and long chats can use many times more than these figures.
- Hannah Ritchie, Sustainability by Numbers, carbon footprint of ChatGPT or Gemini (August 2025 update), summarising Google's 0.24 Wh median Gemini prompt
- Google, Measuring the environmental impact of delivering AI at Google scale (arXiv, August 2025)
- Epoch AI, How much energy does ChatGPT use? about 0.3 Wh per typical prompt (February 2025)
- Sam Altman, OpenAI, The Gentle Singularity blog, 0.34 Wh per average query (June 2025, method not disclosed)
- Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell, Power Hungry Processing, ACM FAccT 2024: image generation mean 2.907 kWh per 1,000 images, max 11.49 kWh
- Our World in Data, Qatar grid 0.58169 kg CO2e/kWh (Ember 2024)
Questions
How much energy does one ChatGPT question use?
Recent estimates for a typical text prompt sit between 0.24 and 0.34 Wh. Google reported 0.24 Wh for a median Gemini prompt (August 2025). Epoch AI estimated about 0.3 Wh for ChatGPT (February 2025). OpenAI said 0.34 Wh (June 2025).
Are AI images worse than text?
Yes, by roughly ten times or more. A 2024 study of open models found a mean of 2.9 Wh per image, and 11.49 Wh for the least efficient model tested.
How sure are these numbers?
Not very. Companies rarely publish data. Long answers, reasoning models, file uploads and video use much more. Our range covers typical short prompts only.
Why use the Qatar grid?
It shows the CO2 if the power came from a gas-heavy grid like Qatar. Most AI data centres are abroad, so the world average may be closer for your queries.
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