HardwareLevel 1 of 6 calculation factorCalculation factor, level 1 of 6Used to calculate 2 entries, level 5Calculated with 1 entry, level 1Database structure 
6Territories
5Organisations
4Occupations and activities
3Uses
2Machine operationsH100 GPU hour, server included
The electricity of one hour of work of an H100 GPU and its share of the server. Projet Celsius estimate.
- The figure covers the GPU under load and its share of the server's processors, memory, network and fans.
- The electricity range runs from 700 Wh to 1.3 kWh, within the scope of this entry.
- CO2e is calculated from electricity and the worldwide grid; it is not a direct measurement of carbon.
- Out of scope: data centre cooling, counted separately, and hardware manufacturing.
Sentence to citeH100 GPU hour, server included, Projet Celsius estimate: 410 gCO2e per GPU hour, for 900 Wh of electricity, servers worldwide (458 gCO2e/kWh).
- Calculated with
- Used to calculate
Origin of the value
Processors, memory, network, fans. The database uses 900 Wh, 70% of the maximum power of the 8-card server given by Nvidia (10.2 kW), the average load used by Epoch AI.
Comparison with the other calculation factors
Characteristics
| Unit | 1 GPU hour |
|---|---|
| Default location | world, 458 gCO2e/kWh (Ember 2025, life cycle); 11 other locations to choose from |
| Counted | the GPU under load and its share of the server's processors, memory, network and fans |
| Not counted | data centre cooling, counted separately, and hardware manufacturing |
| Status | estimated, 1 reading with the same scope, 2 other published values |
All the characteristics
| Identifier | IA-0005, projetcelsius.com/en/ai/database/IA-0005/ |
|---|---|
| Version | 0.1 of 2 November 2026 |
| Category | Calculation factors, the foundation of the calculation |
| Choice of the selected value | value taken as it stands from its source, without calculation |
| Sources | Epoch AI, 2025 |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0 |
Result for the chosen case
This block is made of no other: its value is read from its sources.
Entries that use it (2)
Sources of the calculation
1 publication, for this entry and those used to calculate it, with the chosen parameters.
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.
Published values
3 figures for the same quantity, each in its own scope.
| Source | Date | Electricity | What the figure measures | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H100 hourselected by the database, v0.1 | 2026 | 900 Wh | the range published by the source: from 700 Wh to 1.28 kWh | same scope | estimated |
| Epoch AI ↗How much energy does ChatGPT use? | Feb. 2025 | 893 Wh | 70% of the maximum power of the DGX server, the average load used by the study, per card and per hour | same scope | computation |
| ML.ENERGY, benchmark v3 ↗The ML.ENERGY Leaderboard v3, données par tâche | Feb. 2026 | 548 Wh | Median power of an H100 card serving a language model with 64 or more queries at a time, card alone | other scope | measured |
| Nvidia ↗NVIDIA DGX H100/H200 User Guide, Introduction | 2026 | 1.28 kWh | DGX server with 8 H100 cards, 10.2 kW at maximum, divided by 8 | other scope | computation |
The published figures do not all count the same scope; the scope of each figure is written next to it. Why do the estimates diverge?
Methodology conventions
With their alternatives
| 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 |
| 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).
