Carbon Footprint

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This query

The estimated emissions and electricity used to answer your question. “Unavailable” means the measurement was not returned.

Carbon Emission

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Energy Consumed

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CO₂: one person breathing -
Energy: a 9W LED lit for -

Daily personal usage

What 25 questions a day would use if each took as much energy as this one. This is an example, not a record of your usage.

Carbon Emission

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Energy Consumed

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CO₂: driving a petrol car -
Energy: running a microwave -

Daily global aggregate

What 2.5 billion questions a day would use if each had this question’s footprint. IEEE Spectrum reports this scale for ChatGPT; the totals here use our small model, not ChatGPT’s energy use.

Carbon Emission

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Energy Consumed

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CO₂: 1,000 km flights -
Energy: SE QLD homes for a day -

Model Response

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How emissions are estimated

This widget uses CodeCarbon to estimate the electricity and emissions needed to answer your question with the small AI model LiquidAI LFM2.5-230M. CO₂e means the warming effect of greenhouse gases expressed as an amount of carbon dioxide.

Personal usage is an example of 25 questions per day. The global example uses 2.5 billion questions per day, the ChatGPT volume cited in IEEE Spectrum’s report on AI energy use. Each total multiplies this question’s measurements by the number of questions. These are “what if” examples using our model, not measurements of ChatGPT or all AI worldwide.

The comparisons below help put the numbers in perspective. They are approximate: people, appliances, homes, and journeys vary.

Worked example, not a live reading: suppose one answer produces 0.0543 g CO₂e and uses 0.000098 kWh of electricity. The service returns emissions in grams and electricity in kWh. For display: 0.000098 kWh × 1,000 = 0.098 Wh; 1,000 g = 1 kg; 1,000,000 g = 1 tonne.

Personal day: 0.0543 g × 25 = 1.3575 g CO₂e; 0.000098 kWh × 25 = 0.00245 kWh (2.45 Wh).

Global day: 0.0543 g × 2,500,000,000 = 135,750,000 g = 135.75 tonnes CO₂e; 0.000098 kWh × 2,500,000,000 = 245,000 kWh (245 MWh).

Each comparison below uses these example totals. Calculations use the full source values; the cards round comparisons to two significant figures. Here, ≈ means “approximately”, h means hours, and s means seconds.

  • Breathing: about 900 g of CO₂ per adult per day, from the GLOBE scientists’ estimate. We convert this to a duration of breathing. This compares amounts only: breathing returns carbon from food to the air and is not the same climate impact as burning fossil fuels.

    Source rate: 900 g/day ÷ 24 h/day = 37.5 g/h; 37.5 g/h ÷ 3,600 s/h ≈ 0.0104167 g/s.

    Breathing time = query emissions ÷ breathing rate. Example: 0.0543 g ÷ (900 g ÷ 86,400 s) = 5.2128 s, shown as ≈ 5.2 sec.

  • Light bulb: a 9-watt LED, using the Australian Government’s Energy Rating lighting comparison. Runtime is the measured electricity divided by the bulb’s power.

    Source power: 9 W = 9 Wh per hour = 0.009 kWh/h. 0.009 kWh/h ÷ 3,600 s/h = 0.0000025 kWh/s.

    Bulb runtime = query electricity ÷ bulb consumption rate. Example: 0.000098 kWh ÷ 0.0000025 kWh/s = 39.2 s, shown as ≈ 39 sec.

  • Car: 165 g CO₂ per km for new petrol-only passenger cars sold in Australia in 2022, from the National Transport Commission’s 2022 report, Figure 24. This is a laboratory tailpipe-emissions benchmark, not the average of all cars on the road.

    Source rate: 165 g CO₂/km ÷ 1,000 m/km = 0.165 g CO₂/m.

    Driving distance = personal daily emissions ÷ car emissions per metre. Example: 1.3575 g ÷ 0.165 g/m ≈ 8.2273 m, shown as ≈ 8.2 m. This compares the CO₂e amount with the car’s CO₂ amount, rather than a full vehicle lifecycle.

  • Microwave: a model drawing 2,000 watts of electricity, using Energex’s appliance-power guide for South East Queensland. We use the electricity drawn from the socket to calculate how long it could run.

    Source input power: 2,000 W = 2,000 Wh per hour = 2 kWh/h. 2 kWh/h ÷ 3,600 s/h ≈ 0.000555556 kWh/s. This is electricity input, not the microwave’s cooking-output rating.

    Microwave runtime = personal daily electricity ÷ microwave consumption rate. Example: 0.00245 kWh ÷ (2 kWh ÷ 3,600 s) = 4.41 s, shown as ≈ 4.4 sec.

  • Flight: one passenger taking a one-way, 1,000 km economy flight. The Australian Government’s 2023–24 Net Zero progress report, flight factors uses 0.10794 kg CO₂e per passenger-km plus 0.02249 kg for producing and delivering the fuel: 130.43 kg CO₂e per passenger trip. These are UK-derived factors adopted for Australian government reporting, not measurements of a particular Australian route. The comparison counts passengers, not whole aircraft, and excludes additional warming effects at altitude.

    Source category: short economy flights, over 400 km and up to 3,700 km. Flight 0.10794 + fuel supply 0.02249 = 0.13043 kg CO₂e per passenger-km. For one passenger travelling 1,000 km: 0.13043 × 1,000 = 130.43 kg CO₂e per trip. No extra route multiplier is added.

    Passenger trips = global daily emissions in kg ÷ emissions per passenger trip. Example: 135.75 tonnes × 1,000 kg/tonne ÷ 130.43 kg/trip ≈ 1,040.8 passenger trips, shown as ≈ 1,000 passengers. Each passenger represents one seat on one one-way flight.

  • Households: 5,982 kWh of electricity per residential customer in the Energex network in South East Queensland in 2023–24, from the Australian Energy Regulator’s Annual Retail Markets Report, Table A2.1. We divide the annual benchmark by 365 to get about 16.4 kWh per home per day. This is a regional example, not a national average; it covers supplied electricity, not gas or other fuels.

    Source benchmark: 5,982 kWh per residential customer per year. Using a standard 365-day year: 5,982 ÷ 365 ≈ 16.389 kWh per home per day.

    Homes supplied for one day = global daily electricity ÷ electricity per home per day. Example: 245,000 kWh ÷ (5,982 kWh ÷ 365) ≈ 14,949 homes for one day, shown as ≈ 15,000 homes. A residential electricity customer is used as the proxy for one home.