{"id":2146,"date":"2025-09-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessenergyuk.com\/?p=2146"},"modified":"2026-01-22T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T11:23:08","slug":"chatgpt-energy-consumption-visualized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessenergyuk.com\/knowledge-hub\/chatgpt-energy-consumption-visualized\/","title":{"rendered":"ChatGPT Energy Consumption Visualized"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Artificial intelligence (AI) is capable of achieving incredible things. But it really builds up a sweat while it does so.<\/p>\n \n \"\"\n\n

Every time you prompt Midjourney or ChatGPT to generate an image, an explanation or an email, the host company\u2019s servers run thousands of calculations to deliver the goods. This process uses vast amounts of energy. To keep the servers from overheating, water systems are often used to absorb the heat and carry it off to cooling towers to evaporate.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Using OpenAI\u2019s ChatGPT-4 model to generate a 100-word email alone sweats off more than an Evian bottle\u2019s worth of water (519 millilitres), according to a <\/span>recent study<\/span><\/a> by <\/span>The Washington Post<\/span><\/i> (<\/span>WaPo<\/span><\/i>) and the University of California. And prompting is also a massive drain on the <\/span>national grid<\/span><\/a>. According to <\/span>WaPo<\/span><\/i>, the electricity used to generate that 100-word email is equal to powering 14 LED light bulbs for an hour (0.14 kilowatt-hours (kWh)).<\/span><\/p>\n


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