Google Releases Official AI Prompt Energy Figures

In a first for the industry, Google published data on the median energy consumption of a Gemini text prompt, estimating the usage at 0.24 Wh per prompt. The figure is limited to text‑based outputs and does not include image or video generation, but it provides a concrete baseline for assessing AI’s power draw.

How a Prompt Stacks Up Against Everyday Devices

The 0.24 Wh figure translates to roughly 1.5% of the charge needed for a new smartphone or under ten seconds of streaming video on a 55‑inch TV. When streaming at home, the vast majority of electricity—over 99%—is consumed by the display device itself, with the data center’s share accounting for a tiny fraction. Similar ratios hold for laptops and phones, where the data center contribution drops to about 0.4% of total power use.

Broader Environmental Impact

Google also estimated that each prompt consumes 0.26 milliliters of water for cooling and produces 0.03 grams of carbon‑dioxide‑equivalent emissions. While these numbers are modest on an individual level, they illustrate that AI workloads have water and carbon footprints in addition to electricity use.

Scale Matters

When aggregated across billions of daily prompts, the cumulative effect becomes more significant. A heavy user who generates about 50 prompts a day would see AI‑related electricity represent roughly 0.15% of their total daily usage—comparable to the standby power of a TV. The article cautions that while a single prompt is a drop in the bucket, the sheer volume of AI interactions worldwide could translate into a notable share of global electricity consumption.

Context Within Overall Energy Use

Even at scale, AI’s share of personal electricity use remains small compared with larger societal demands such as food production, street lighting, and industrial processes. Nonetheless, the data underscores the importance of monitoring AI’s resource demands as adoption continues to grow.

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