Uses of AI
A text answer uses of the order of 0.3 Wh, an image about 10 times more, a 5-second video about 300 times more.
By Projet Celsius
Focus areaOnline services0.3Whfor one written question to an AI, reference valueEpoch AI, February 2025Open the focus area →
Focus areaBusinessesSavings from settings and electricity by type of task.See its charts →
Focus areaResearch and educationThe measurements published by researchers, task by task and model by model.Open the focus area →Charts and maps of the topic
Charts and maps →Focus area
ChartOne question · logElectricity used by a question, an image, a videoWritten question0.3Image2.95 s video90 Wh× 300a video compared with a questionEpoch AI; Luccioni; DelavandeChart2025 studiesEnergy savings from 4 settingsResponse 4 times shorter76 %Response 2 times shorter54 %Smallest sufficient model28 %Prompt 2 times shorter5 %UNESCO and UCL, 2025; Barros et al., 2025ChartMeasurements published in 2024Electricity by type of AI taskImage generation2.9Text summarisation0.049Text generation0.047Object detection0.038Image classification0.007Luccioni et al., Power Hungry Processing, 2024Key figureOne question · 2025Electricity used by a text query to Gemini0.24Wh0.14 Wh the AI chips0.10 Wh the rest of the centreprocessors, memory, standby machines, coolingMedian of text queriesGoogle, August 2025ChartOne question · logReasoning mode multiplies energy usePEReN, average× 1.9PEReN, code× 9.5Hugging Face× 30same model× 150 to 700× 150 to 700Hugging Face, same modelArcep and PEReN, 2026; Hugging Face, 2025ChartOne question · logElectricity used by a generated video, 7 models measured0.14AnimateDiff3.7LTX9.7Cog 2B25Cog 5B52Mochi 190WAN 1.3415+WAN 140.14 to 415Whper video, depending on the modelDelavande, Pierrard and Luccioni, 2025
Show the next 3
Key figureOne question · 2025Electricity used by a written question to an AI0.3Wh0.24 Wh, Google0.34 Wh, OpenAIthe range published by providersA typical questionEpoch AI, February 2025Key figureOne question · 2024Electricity used by an AI-generated image2.9Whabout 15% of a phone charge (19 Wh)Average of open modelsLuccioni et al., 2024; EPAKey figureOne question · 2025Electricity used by a generated 5-second video90Wh300 written questions, or 31 imagesWAN 2.1, open generatorDelavande, Pierrard and Luccioni, 2025
Analyses and articles
Analyses
Where does this figure come from?
Uses20 October 2026"A generated image is a phone charge"The comparison did the rounds of the media in late 2023. It came from a serious study, but from its preliminary version, from the most power-hungry generator, and from a phone charge counted as 12 Wh.
Where does this figure come from?Uses20 October 2026"A generated video uses 1 kWh"The figure has been circulating since 2025, often attached to Sora. It comes from a real measurement, but one made on a different, open model, in a particularly heavy version. Measurements of 7 generators range from 0.14 to 415 Wh.On the Projet Celsius blog ↗
Sources for this topic
- Epoch AI, How much energy does ChatGPT use?, February 2025 ↗
- Luccioni, Jernite and Strubell, Power Hungry Processing: Watts Driving the Cost of AI Deployment?, 2024 ↗
- Delavande, Pierrard and Luccioni, Video Killed the Energy Budget, September 2025 ↗
- Arcep, Intelligence artificielle et environnement (mesures du PEReN), May 2026 ↗
- Hugging Face, AI Energy Score v2, December 2025 ↗
- UNESCO and University College London, Smarter, smaller, stronger: resource-efficient generative AI, 2025 ↗
- Barros et al., Small is Sufficient: Reducing the World AI Energy Consumption Through Model Selection, 2025 ↗
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