Using this methodology, we estimate the median Gemini Apps text prompt uses 0.24 watt-hours (Wh) of energy, emits 0.03 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (gCO2e), and consumes 0.26 milliliters (or about five drops) of water1 — figures that are substantially lower than many public estimates. The per-prompt energy impact is equivalent to watching TV for less than nine seconds.
There's also an MIT Technology Review article about the Google paper.
I'm tired of people having to defend how energy is used. If you're paying for the energy you can use it how you want.
Focus on abundant clean energy if you're worried about climate change. Stop telling people what they can and can't do with the energy
Thank you.
But, to play devils advocate: kind of boring if there's no one besides a couple of energy companies to cancel.
oh i'm sure there's plenty of other stuff to get outraged over
true lol
Fair point. It is still kinda cool to have a sense of how much energy it uses.
It just feels defensive when it shouldn't have to be. You can tell because they chose the median instead of the average. Median is useful when you're interested in the experience of a typical user, but it's fairly obvious that when it comes to energy usage, people are primarily worried about totals, which is better captured by the average. It's obvious Google is trying to shade these metrics downwards to appease environmentalist judgment.