UsesLevel 4 of 6 occupation or activityOccupation or activity, level 4 of 6Calculated with 6 entries, levels 1 to 3Database structure 
6Territories
5Organisations
3Uses
2Machine operations
1Calculation factors3-minute video produced with AI
A 3-minute video made of 18 generated shots of 10 seconds. Projet Celsius estimate.
- "10-second clip" accounts for 100% of emissions in this scenario.
- 100% of the calculation rests on database assumptions; it does not measure actual use.
- Out of scope: editing on the computer, distribution of the video, server manufacturing and model training.
Sentence to cite3-minute video produced with AI, Projet Celsius estimate: 8.4 kgCO2e per project, for 18 kWh of electricity, servers worldwide (458 gCO2e/kWh).
Breakdown of emissions by item
8.4 kgCO2e in total: 18 kWh of electricity × 458 gCO2e/kWh (servers worldwide).
Inputs of the calculation
PUE of the data centre, Second of video, Generate an image, Read 1,000 tokens, Write, with reasoning, Synthesise one minute, Clip of 10 seconds, Create an image, Write a page, Translate a page
How the calculation is built
A 3-minute video made of 18 generated shots of 10 seconds, 3 attempts per shot kept, with a script, starting images and a synthetic voice. The volumes are assumptions.
Comparison with other occupations and activities
Characteristics
| Unit | 1 project |
|---|---|
| Default location | world, 458 gCO2e/kWh (Ember 2025, life cycle); 11 other locations to choose from |
| Counted | the generated shots, attempts included, the starting images, the script, the voice and the cooling of the data centre |
| Not counted | editing on the computer, distribution of the video, server manufacturing and model training |
| Status | estimated |
All the characteristics
| Identifier | IA-0332, projetcelsius.com/en/ai/database/IA-0332/ |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.1 of 2 November 2026 |
| Category | Occupations and activities, one person, one year |
| Choice of the selected value | database calculation from the entries this one is made of, at the quantities of the unit |
| Sources | calculation of the database |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0 |
Usage parameters
Advanced settings
Result for the chosen case
10 seconds per video, servers worldwide: 8.4 kgCO2e, 18 kWh.
For a carbon footprint
| Item | purchases of services (GHG Protocol scope 3, category 1); regulatory BEGES, category 4 |
|---|---|
| Quantity | 1 project |
| Factor | 8.4 kgCO2e per project, IA-0332 version 0.1, using the local grid mix (location-based), servers worldwide |
| Total | 8.4 kgCO2e · not counted: editing on the computer, distribution of the video, server manufacturing and model training |
Breakdown by item
Quantity, unit value, contribution and nature of the data for each item
| Item | Quantity | Unit value | Contribution | Share | Nature of the data |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clip of 10 seconds | × 54 | 340 Wh | 18 kWh | 100 % | assumption |
| Create an image | × 18 | 3.2 Wh | 58 Wh | 0 % | assumption |
| Synthesise one minute | × 3.93 | 1.2 Wh | 4.5 Wh | 0 % | assumption |
| Write a page | × 2 | 0.45 Wh | 0.9 Wh | 0 % | assumption |
| Translate a page | × 1 | 0.6 Wh | 0.6 Wh | 0 % | assumption |
Entries that use it
No other entry in the database is calculated from this one.
Sources of the calculation
6 publications, for this entry and those used to calculate it, with the chosen parameters.
The result is calculated by Projet Celsius. The sources below support its uses, its factors and its conversion; they do not all measure this total.
Uses and assumptions
These publications shed light on AI tasks and uses. They do not measure the carbon footprint of the case calculated.
Role and limits : OpenAI
What the publication covers. audio tokens: one per 100 milliseconds of the user's speech, one per 50 milliseconds of the assistant's speech
What it does not cover. electricity
Reading by the database. The publisher's billing rule, read in the page excerpt
Synthesise a minute → : Write 1,000 tokens →
The 1,200 audio tokens of one minute of voice, at the cost of a written token: no published measurement
Scope of the figure used. server, excluding the data centre
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Synthesise a minute → : Write 1,000 tokens →
Length convention: one minute of voice spoken by an AI
Scope of the figure used. One audio token per 50 milliseconds of the assistant's speech at OpenAI
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Projet Celsius · November 2026
Tokens per word, per line of code and per cell, measured with 7 public tokenisers
Role and limits : Projet Celsius
What the publication covers. 479,888 words from 196 blog articles and their English translation, code from the site and the Python library, a table of measurements; tokenisers of GPT-4o, GPT-4, Llama 3, Gemini (via Gemma 3), Mistral, DeepSeek and Qwen
What it does not cover. the Claude tokeniser, not public
Reading by the database. A measurement on technical texts, figures included; to be repeated if publishers change their tokeniser
Projet Celsius measurement, repeated on request with the public tokenisers
Write a page → : Write, with reasoning →
Length convention: one page
Scope of the figure used. A report page, headings and paragraphs included: between the 1,500-character sheet (250 words) and a full A4 page in single spacing (about 550 words, at 6.1 characters per word measured on our articles)
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Translate a page → : Write, with reasoning →
The translated page, counted as a French page
Scope of the figure used. server, excluding the data centre
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Translate a page → : Read 1,000 tokens →
Length convention: one page
Scope of the figure used. A report page, headings and paragraphs included: between the 1,500-character sheet (250 words) and a full A4 page in single spacing (about 550 words, at 6.1 characters per word measured on our articles)
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Translate a page → : Write, with reasoning →
Length convention: one page
Scope of the figure used. A report page, headings and paragraphs included: between the 1,500-character sheet (250 words) and a full A4 page in single spacing (about 550 words, at 6.1 characters per word measured on our articles)
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Energy and factors
The references of the selected values and of the entries used in this calculation.
Delavande et al. · September 2025
Role and limits : Delavande et al.
Author. Delavande, Pierrard and Luccioni
What the publication covers. GPU, processor, memory
What it does not cover. data centre
Reading by the database. Seven open models
10-second clip → : Second of video →
A single continuous video costs as much as the square of its duration: 10 seconds is worth 3.4 times the 5.4-second video that was measured
Scope of the figure used. GPU, processor, memory; excluding the data centre
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Luccioni et al. · October 2024
Role and limits : Luccioni et al.
Author. Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell
What the publication covers. GPU, processor, memory
What it does not cover. data centre
Reading by the database. Open models only
Create an image → : Generate an image →
One image, of the chosen size: standard by default
Scope of the figure used. GPU, processor, memory; excluding the data centre
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Reference for the variant "Standard image, from 512 to 1,024 pixels per side"
Scope of the figure used. Average of the open models tested, 1,000 images; median 1.35 Wh, maximum 11.49 Wh
Limit. Open models only; closed generators publish nothing
Watershed · Aug. 2026
Estimating GHG Emissions from AI Use: Framework for Corporate-Level Measurement ↗ (new tab)
Role and limits : Watershed
Author. Bistline, Ulissi, Davis, Glidden, Joyce, Li, Mohsenin and Suh (Watershed)
What the publication covers. factors per 1,000 tokens read and written at the server before PUE (host and standby machines included), PUE separate (1.10 for a large operator, 1.56 for an unknown operator)
What it does not cover. clean measurements, the model and the hardware
Reading by the database. Default factors proposed for review (public data as of June 2026); for a large operator, taken from Google's measurement published in 2025 (Elsworth et al.), which already contains the data centre overhead; constant per token, they underestimate long contexts and agents according to the authors
10-second clip → : Data centre PUE →
The data centre, convention C3
Scope of the figure used. building cooling and losses
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Reference of the selected value
Scope of the figure used. Default factor for a large operator, from the server to the data centre; 1.56 for an unknown operator
Limit. A default value, not a measurement
Create an image → : Data centre PUE →
The data centre, convention C3
Scope of the figure used. building cooling and losses
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Reference for the variant "Medium model, Watershed default factor"
Scope of the figure used. Default factor for 1,000 tokens read, medium model, large operator, at the server before PUE (Watershed table 2, public data as of June 2026)
Limit. A default value that Watershed derives from Google's measurement (0.24 Wh for the median text query of the Gemini app), with about 500 tokens per query and a written token costing 3 times a read token; Watershed does not give the split between read and written tokens. The 0.24 Wh already include the overhead of Google's data centre (0.02 Wh, 8%): with 375 tokens read and 125 written, the simplest reading, the factor contains it, and the PUE of 1.10 applied afterwards counts it a second time (about 9%). Values proposed for review, final at the next version of the framework
Reference for the variant "Medium model, Watershed default factor"
Scope of the figure used. Default factor for 1,000 tokens written, medium model, large operator, at the server before PUE (Watershed table 2, public data as of June 2026)
Limit. 3 times the reading factor, based on the ratio between writing and reading selected by Watershed (Patel et al., Splitwise, 2024). Same derivation and same caveat as for reading: Google's 0.24 Wh already include about 8% of data centre. Values proposed for review, final at the next version of the framework
Write a page → : Data centre PUE →
The data centre, convention C3
Scope of the figure used. building cooling and losses
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Translate a page → : Data centre PUE →
The data centre, convention C3
Scope of the figure used. building cooling and losses
Limit. This figure covers part of the calculation; it does not measure the whole entry.
Conversion into carbon
The source of the electricity factor of the selected location.
Worldwide: 458 gCO2e/kWh, life cycle.
Role and limits : Ember
Author. Ember, Our World in Data
What the publication covers. electricity generation over the life cycle, by country
What it does not cover. guarantees of origin
Reading by the database. The same source for all countries
Conversion of electricity into carbon: worldwide
Scope of the figure used. the production of electricity over the life cycle, including power plant construction and fuels
Limit. An average for the chosen country, not the electricity contract or the data centre of a specific service.
Nature of the data
Published readings, conventions, assumptions
- Projet Celsius assumptions 100 %
Calculation assumptions
Quantities, nature and source of each assumption
Clip of 10 seconds : × 54
18 shots of 10 seconds for 3 minutes, 3 attempts per shot kept
Create an image : × 18
One starting image per shot
Write a page : counted 2 times
The script, about 2 pages
Synthesise one minute : × 3.93
The synthetic voice: 3 minutes, 2 takes
Translate a page : counted 1 times
The translated subtitles, about 1 page
Methodology conventions
With their alternatives
| The data centre | Server electricity is multiplied by 1.10 for the data centre |
|---|---|
| The default location | Without other information, the servers are in the world, at the world average electricity |
| Electricity, location-based, on a life cycle basis | The kilowatt-hour is that of the servers' country, on a life cycle basis, from a single source for all countries |
| Two significant figures | A calculated value is rounded to two significant figures, a published value is reproduced with the precision of its source; the calculation keeps full precision |
| The formula | the sum of what makes up the entry, then CO2e: electricity (Wh) multiplied by the carbon intensity of the server location (gCO2e/kWh), divided by 1,000 |
| Calculate a case without an entry | The formula, the default values and a step-by-step example |
History
Entry in version 0.1 of 2 November 2026, in the database in version 0.4
- 2 November 2026Version 0.1 of the entry, as of the date of its current value.
- 31 October 2026Creation of the database, in its first version (0.1).
