UsesLevel 4 of 6 occupation or activityOccupation or activity, level 4 of 6Calculated with 10 entries, levels 1 and 3Database structure 
6Territories
5Organisations
3Uses
2Machine operations
1Calculation factorsGoogle AI Pro, 1 year
A year of Google AI Pro subscription in the Gemini app: about 26 deep research tasks, 150 conversations of 10 exchanges, 1,900 questions to Gemini, and 6 other tasks. Projet Celsius estimate.
- Text and conversation account for 84% of emissions: "Deep research" weighs as much as 330 quick questions.
- About 2,500 requests to AI over the year, or 6.8 per working day.
- An estimate: the frequencies and the share done with AI are our assumptions.
Sentence to citeGoogle AI Pro, 1 year, Projet Celsius estimate: 2.1 kgCO2e per subscription per year, for 4.6 kWh of electricity, servers worldwide (458 gCO2e/kWh).
Breakdown of emissions by item
2.1 kgCO2e in total: 4.6 kWh of electricity × 458 gCO2e/kWh (servers worldwide).
Inputs of the calculation
Read 1,000 tokens, Re-read from cache, Write, with reasoning, Write 1,000 tokens, Question to Gemini, Conversation of 10 exchanges, Deep research, Create an image
How the calculation is built
A year of Google AI Pro subscription in the Gemini app: questions, deep research, images, very long documents, a limited video trial. Google gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (November 2026); the typical use is an assumption.
Comparison with other occupations and activities
Characteristics
| Unit | 1 subscription, 1 year : 365 days |
|---|---|
| Default location | world, 458 gCO2e/kWh (Ember 2025, life cycle); 11 other locations to choose from |
| Counted | the tasks done with AI over a year, including data centre cooling |
| Not counted | server manufacturing, model training, the person's device and the subscription price |
| Status | estimated |
All the characteristics
| Identifier | IA-0323, projetcelsius.com/en/ai/database/IA-0323/ |
|---|---|
| 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
Tasks and frequencies
Frequency and share done with AI, task by task · typical use
Adjust each task
| Task | Frequency | Share with AI | Per year | Electricity | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question to Gemini | 1,920 | 460 Wh | 10 % | ||
| Conversation of 10 exchanges | 146 | 510 Wh | 11 % | ||
| Deep research | 26 | 2.6 kWh | 56 % | ||
| Create an image | 91.3 | 290 Wh | 6 % | ||
| Retouch a photo | 39 | 130 Wh | 3 % | ||
| Clip of 5 seconds | 2.6 | 260 Wh | 6 % | ||
| Query a PDF | 41.6 | 200 Wh | 4 % | ||
| Proofread a page | 146 | 88 Wh | 2 % | ||
| Voice mode, 1 minute | 78 | 49 Wh | 1 % |
Result for the chosen case
365 days, 5.4 seconds per video, servers worldwide: 2.1 kgCO2e, 4.6 kWh.
For a carbon footprint
| Item | purchases of services (GHG Protocol scope 3, category 1); regulatory BEGES, category 4 |
|---|---|
| Quantity | 1 subscription over a year |
| Factor | 2.1 kgCO2e per subscription over a year, IA-0323 version 0.1, based on the local grid (location-based), servers worldwide |
| Total | 2.1 kgCO2e · not counted: server manufacturing, model training, the person's device and the subscription price |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deep research | 26 times | 99 Wh | 2.6 kWh | 56 % | assumption |
| Conversation of 10 exchanges | 150 times | 3.5 Wh | 510 Wh | 11 % | assumption |
| Question to Gemini | 1,900 times | 0.24 Wh | 460 Wh | 10 % | assumption |
| Create an image | 91 times | 3.2 Wh | 290 Wh | 6 % | assumption |
| Clip of 5 seconds | 2.6 times | 99 Wh | 260 Wh | 6 % | assumption |
| Query a PDF | 42 times | 4.7 Wh | 200 Wh | 4 % | assumption |
| Retouch a photo | 39 times | 3.5 Wh | 130 Wh | 3 % | assumption |
| Proofread a page | 150 times | 0.6 Wh | 88 Wh | 2 % | assumption |
| Voice mode, 1 minute | 78 times | 0.62 Wh | 49 Wh | 1 % | assumption |
Entries that use it
No other entry in the database is calculated from this one.
Sources of the calculation
14 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.
Anthropic · June 2025
Role and limits : Anthropic
What the publication covers. an agent uses about 4 times the tokens of a conversation, a multi-agent system about 15 times
What it does not cover. electricity
Reading by the database. Publisher orders of magnitude, with no absolute value
Deep research → : Re-read from cache →
The context re-read from cache at each of the 40 steps, 40,000 tokens on average
Scope of the figure used. server, convention C4
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Anthropic · 2026
Role and limits : Anthropic
What the publication covers. tokens of an image according to its size: one patch of 28 × 28 pixels per token, 1,296 for a megapixel
What it does not cover. electricity
Reading by the database. The publisher's billing rule
Analyse an image → : Read 1,000 tokens →
The photo cut into about 1,100 image tokens, read as text
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.
Analyse an image → : Read 1,000 tokens →
Length convention: a photo sent to an AI
Scope of the figure used. A one-megapixel photo, cut into image patches: 765 tokens at OpenAI for GPT-4o, 1,032 at Google, 1,229 for recent OpenAI models, 1,296 at Anthropic
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Apec · June 2025
Role and limits : Apec
What the publication covers. frequency of generative AI use at work, 2,000 private-sector managers surveyed in March 2025
What it does not cover. non-managers and the number of requests
Reading by the database. Recent French survey on frequency of use at work; copy read on a specialist press site
Support for the "Typical use" setting
Scope of the figure used. The median user among those who use AI, end of 2026: they turn to it every working day for part of their questions, writing and reading, about 5 to 15 requests per day in an office job. In an organisation or a territory, it also sets the share of employees who use it (25%).
Limit. This setting remains an assumption of the database, not a measurement of the occupation.
Epoch AI · February 2025
Role and limits : Epoch AI
What the publication covers. the calculation from the hardware and the assumed size of the model
What it does not cover. actual measurements
Reading by the database. A public, transparent calculation
Conversation of 10 exchanges → : Re-read from cache →
The context re-read from cache at each turn: the previous exchanges, and the document already in the conversation if there is one
Scope of the figure used. server, convention C4
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Google · November 2026
Abonnements Google AI et limites de l'application Gemini ↗ (new tab)
Role and limits : Google
What the publication covers. price and relative limits of the Plus, Pro and Ultra plans, context of 1 million tokens
What it does not cover. any number of searches, images or videos
Reading by the database. Pages read on 2 November 2026; compute limits renewed every 5 hours
Published observation on uses
Scope of the figure used. Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month, compute limits renewed every 5 hours up to a weekly limit, 1 million tokens of context
Limit. No number of searches, images or videos published
Google AI Pro, 1 year → : Question to Gemini →
About 15 occasions to ask a question per day, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Scope of the figure used. full service, data centre included, measured
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Google AI Pro, 1 year → : Deep research →
About 2 topics per week that lend themselves to in-depth research, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Scope of the figure used. searches, pages read, context re-read, report, data centre
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Google AI Pro, 1 year → : Create an image →
About 1 image request per day, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Scope of the figure used. server and data centre
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Google AI Pro, 1 year → : 5-second clip →
About 1 video request per week, assumption; the plan gives only a limited trial of the video generator (Google, 2026).
Scope of the figure used. server and data centre; 7 models measured
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
Google AI Pro, 1 year → : Query a PDF →
About 2 long documents per week, the plan reading 1 million tokens (Google, 2026).
Scope of the figure used. document read, response, data centre
Limit. The quantity and the share entrusted to AI are database assumptions, not a measured footprint.
The 3 other publications in this section
Google · 2026
Role and limits
What the publication covers. up to hundreds of sites browsed and pages processed per search
What it does not cover. electricity
Reading by the database. A presentation page: a ceiling, not an average
Deep research → : Read 1,000 tokens →
The web pages read, about a hundred by default: Google announces up to hundreds of sites
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.
Role and limits
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
Voice mode, 1 minute → : Read 1,000 tokens →
What the user says, half of the minute, in audio tokens
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.
Voice mode, 1 minute → : Write 1,000 tokens →
What the AI answers, the other half, in audio tokens
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.
Voice mode, 1 minute → : Read 1,000 tokens →
Length convention: one minute of voice heard by an AI
Scope of the figure used. One audio token per 100 milliseconds of the user's speech at OpenAI; Gemini counts 32 per second, or 1,920 per minute
Limit. This publication supports the quantity of text or content processed, not its carbon footprint.
Voice mode, 1 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
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
Conversation of 10 exchanges → : Re-read from cache →
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.
Deep research → : Write 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.
Query a PDF → : 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.
Proofread 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.
Proofread 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
5-second clip → : Second of video →
The seconds of the measured video, 5.4
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.
Role and limits : Google
What the publication covers. chips, host, standby machines, data centre, on-site water
What it does not cover. manufacturing, training
Reading by the database. The only production measurement published by a provider
Reference of the selected value
Scope of the figure used. Median text question, May 2025; chips, host, idle reserve machines, data centre
Limit. Record R-0001, attached to the Gemini block
Google · January 2009
Role and limits : Google
What the publication covers. a search, data centre
Reading by the database. Never remeasured
Reference of the selected value
Scope of the figure used. A search, data centre included
Limit. Never publicly remeasured; Google's AI answers are not published
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
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
Conversation of 10 exchanges → : 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
Deep research → : 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.
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.
Edit a photo → : 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.
5-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.
Query a PDF → : 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.
Proofread 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.
Voice mode, 1 minute → : 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 %
Usage assumptions
Frequency, share done with AI according to adoption, source of each assumption
Question to Gemini : 15 per day, 35% with AI in typical use
About 15 occasions to ask a question per day, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Conversation of 10 exchanges : 1 per day, 40% with AI in typical use
About 1 piece of practical advice per day, assumption.
Deep research : 2 per week, 25% with AI in typical use
About 2 topics per week that lend themselves to in-depth research, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Create an image : 1 per day, 25% with AI in typical use
About 1 image request per day, assumption; the plan gives 4 times the limits of the free plan, with no quantified cap (Google, 2026).
Retouch a photo : 3 per week, 25% with AI in typical use
About 3 photos to retouch per week, assumption.
Clip of 5 seconds : 1 per week, 5% with AI in typical use
About 1 video request per week, assumption; the plan gives only a limited trial of the video generator (Google, 2026).
Query a PDF : 2 per week, 40% with AI in typical use
About 2 long documents per week, the plan reading 1 million tokens (Google, 2026).
Proofread a page : 1 per day, 40% with AI in typical use
About 1 text to rework per day, assumption.
Voice mode, 1 minute : 10 per week, 15% with AI in typical use
About 10 minutes per week during which one could talk to the assistant, assumption.
Published figures in support
Google (2026): 4 times the free plan limits
Google AI Pro at $19.99 a month, compute limits renewed every 5 hours up to a weekly limit, 1 million tokens of context
Methodology conventions
With their alternatives
| The working day and year | A working year counts 220 days and 44 weeks, a personal year 365 days; the task lists of occupations give, as a median, about 2 requests to AI per working day at low adoption, 6 at standard adoption, 21 at intensive adoption, excluding code suggestions |
|---|---|
| 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.
- 12 November 2026Designation : Gemini AI Pro, 1 an devient Google AI Pro, 1 an.Decision of 12 November 2026: the plan is called Google AI Pro; the address does not change and the old name remains searchable.
- 12 November 2026Short title : Gemini AI Pro, 1 an devient Google AI Pro, 1 an.Decision of 12 November 2026: the plan is called Google AI Pro; the address does not change and the old name remains searchable.
- 31 October 2026Creation of the database, in its first version (0.1).
