What share of data centre electricity does ChatGPT account for?
Electricity consumed in one year, in TWh; the area of each square follows consumption
What share of data centre electricity does ChatGPT account for?
Sources
Source: IEA; RTE; GreenIT; Shift Project; ADEME. projetcelsius.com/en/ai · CC BY 4.0- International Energy AgencyKey Questions on Energy and AIApril 2026 (new tab)
- RTEBilan électrique 2025February 2026 (new tab)
- GreenITImpacts environnementaux et sanitaires de l’intelligence artificielle dans le monde en 2025 et 2030September 2026 (new tab)
- The Shift ProjectIntelligence artificielle, données, calculs : quelles infrastructures dans un monde décarboné ?October 2025 (new tab)
- ADEMEavis sur l’intelligence artificielle générativeJuly 2026 (new tab)
The analysis
- Questions asked to ChatGPT weigh about 0.3 TWh per year, less than 0.1% of data centre electricity.
- AI accounts for between a fifth and more than a third (21 to 36%), depending on the estimate used.
- Most of AI's electricity does not go through chat windows: training, business software, content recommendation, agents.
The figures
- All data centres (world, all uses): 485 TWh.
- France (mainland, 2025): 451 TWh.
- AI, high estimate (GreenIT): 174 TWh.
- AI, low estimate (Schneider Electric): 100 TWh.
- ChatGPT (the questions asked, ADEME calculation): 0.32 TWh.
Assumptions
- Electricity consumed in 2025, at 5 scales.
- ADEME's calculation starts from the figure declared by OpenAI (0.34 Wh per question), published without a method.
- The 2 AI estimates do not cover the same scope: GreenIT counts all AI infrastructure, with servers used continuously.
More on electricity
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ElectricityData centre electricity× 2.3in 6 years, from 415 to 945 TWhChartElectricityData centre electricity consumption in 2030, according to 3 studies1 to 1.6the gap between the 3 projections in 2030ChartElectricityData centres' share of electricity23%of Ireland's electricity in 2025ChartElectricityData centres in France, 2024-203521 to 32TWhin 2035, according to RTE
ElectricityData centre electricity× 2.3in 6 years, from 415 to 945 TWhChartElectricityData centre electricity consumption in 2030, according to 3 studies1 to 1.6the gap between the 3 projections in 2030ChartElectricityData centres' share of electricity23%of Ireland's electricity in 2025ChartElectricityData centres in France, 2024-203521 to 32TWhin 2035, according to RTEAnalyses
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