A Look at AI Usage Carbon Cost Through the Lens of it’s Users

​Artificial Intelligence is no longer just a futuristic concept—it’s embedded in how we study, work, and even connect emotionally. Whether helping write essays, draft emails, or offer a listening ear, AI is increasingly part of everyday routines. But there’s a cost that’s easy to overlook: energy consumption and its carbon footprint.

Let’s explore the environmental side of daily AI use by walking in the shoes of three real-world personas—a student, an office worker, and someone using AI for companionship—and assess what their usage adds up to, and what it means for the planet.

📚 Emma the Student: Learning Smarter, But at What Cost?

Emma uses AI regularly for summarizing readings, researching papers, and checking math steps. It's a reliable tool—especially during deadlines—but also an energy-hungry one.

• Prompts per day: ~20

• Energy use/day: ~70 Wh

• CO₂ emissions/year: ~6 kg

• Equivalent to: Boiling ~250 kettles of water

🔍 While Emma’s individual impact is modest, scale that across millions of students and the total becomes significant. Universities and EdTech platforms could support sustainability by encouraging efficient usage and providing greener AI infrastructure.

💼 Liam the Office Worker: Productivity vs. Power Draw

In a fast-paced marketing role, Liam uses AI for idea generation, email drafts, and quick info lookups. It saves time—but with each prompt powered by large data centers, it's not exactly energy-neutral.

• Prompts per day: ~15

• Energy use/day: ~52 Wh

• CO₂ emissions/year: ~4.5 kg

• Equivalent to: Driving ~22 km in a petrol car

🌱 For businesses integrating AI, it’s worth considering not just how much time is saved, but how much power is used. Encouraging smart prompting and exploring greener providers can reduce digital carbon footprints.

🧠 Sophia the Companion Seeker: When AI is a Friend

Sophia chats with an AI assistant for emotional support and company. These conversations are longer, more frequent, and deeply meaningful. But they also come with the highest environmental cost.

• Prompts per day: ~40

• Energy use/day: ~140 Wh

• CO₂ emissions/year: ~12 kg

• Equivalent to: A short-haul flight's carbon cost

⚡ The use of AI for mental wellness is growing, but so is its energy demand. Developers building these tools should consider lightweight models, edge computing, and carbon-aware deployment strategies.

🧮 Tiny Prompts, Big Picture

Each AI prompt might only use 3–4 watt-hours of electricity, but across billions of queries globally, the numbers add up fast. A single large language model can require energy equivalent to running hundreds of homes during training, and ongoing usage keeps the power demand high.

Let’s put this in context:

ActionCO₂ Emitted1 AI prompt~0.82g CO₂1 Google search~0.2g CO₂Charging phone~5g CO₂1 km in petrol car~192g CO₂

So, if you're sending 20 prompts a day, that's about 16 grams—tiny on its own, but 5.8 kg per year. Multiply that by millions of users? You’re looking at the equivalent carbon output of a small city.

🛠️ Sustainable AI: What Can Be Done?

For Users:

• Limit “exploratory” prompting when unnecessary

• Close AI apps when not in active use

• Choose platforms that disclose carbon-aware operations

For Developers & Platforms:

• Prioritize energy-efficient model architectures

• Use renewable-powered data centers

• Offer “light mode” LLMs for low-intensity tasks

• Make carbon cost per prompt visible to users

🌱 AI Usage Carbon Calculator

Estimate your carbon footprint from AI prompts—individually or as a team.

Prompts per person per day:

Enable Team Mode

Team size:

Estimate combined impact for a department, organization or campaign group.

Calculate Impact

📊 View Assumptions

• 3.5 Wh per AI prompt
• 0.233 kg CO₂ per kWh (UK average)
• 0.192 kg CO₂/km (car)
• 0.06 kg CO₂ per boiled kettle
• 0.15 kg CO₂ per plastic bottle

Created for conscious creators, teams & communities using AI with care 🌍

🌱 Final Thoughts: Responsible Doesn’t Just Mean Ethical—It Means Sustainable

AI has the power to make our lives better, but with great computation comes great carbon. We often talk about AI in terms of ethics, bias, and job disruption—but the planetary cost is equally urgent.

Let’s build and use AI with the awareness that each query, each conversation, and each task leaves a footprint. It’s not about guilt—it’s about making informed, efficient, and sustainable choices, one prompt at a time.

Why not try our AI usage carbon calculation to see your impact on the plant.

References and Resources

The following sources inform the ethical, legal, and technical guidance shared throughout The Daisy-Chain:

U.S. Copyright Office: Policy on AI and Human Authorship

Official guidance on copyright eligibility for AI-generated works.

UNESCO: AI Ethics Guidelines

Global framework for responsible and inclusive use of artificial intelligence.

Partnership on AI

Research and recommendations on fair, transparent AI development and use.

OECD AI Principles

International standards for trustworthy AI.

Stanford Center for Research on Foundation Models (CRFM)

Research on large-scale models, limitations, and safety concerns.

MIT Technology Review – AI Ethics Coverage

Accessible, well-sourced articles on AI use, bias, and real-world impact.

OpenAI’s Usage Policies and System Card (for ChatGPT & DALL·E)

Policy information for responsible AI use in consumer tools.