I’ve seen a stat go around many, many times that a single 100 word answer generated by Chat GPT uses a whole bottle of water in order to cool the GPUs used to create the response.
✅ ChatGPT uses ~25× more energy per query than Google, due to the complexity of running large AI models.
💵 Annual Dollar Cost
ChatGPT 27.375 ×$0.15=$4.11/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
27.375×$0.15=$4.11/year
Google
1.095×$0.15=$0.16/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
1.095×$0.15=$0.16/year
✅ Summary
Metric ChatGPT Google
Annual energy ~27.4 kWh ~1.1 kWh
Annual cost ~$4.11 ~$0.16
So if one average person used ChatGPT for 10 queries a day instead of Google, it would cost about $4/year in energy—small in personal terms, but meaningful when scaled across millions of users.
Let me know if you want the carbon footprint comparison too!
Here's what ChatGPT told me:
what is the estimated annual cost of an average person using ChatGPT each day in lieu of a search engine?
ChatGPT said:
Great question—let’s estimate the annual energy and dollar cost of a person using ChatGPT daily instead of a traditional search engine like Google.
⚙️ Assumptions
Factor Value
Daily usage 10 questions/day
Days/year 365
Energy per ChatGPT query ~0.005–0.01 kWh
Energy per Google search ~0.0003 kWh
Electricity cost $0.15/kWh (U.S. average)
🔋 Annual Energy Use
ChatGPT
10 queries/day × 365 days × 0.0075 kWh (average)=27.375 kWh/year
10 queries/day×365 days×0.0075 kWh (average)=27.375 kWh/year
Google (for comparison)
10×365×0.0003=1.095 kWh/year
✅ ChatGPT uses ~25× more energy per query than Google, due to the complexity of running large AI models.
💵 Annual Dollar Cost
ChatGPT 27.375 ×$0.15=$4.11/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
27.375×$0.15=$4.11/year
Google
1.095×$0.15=$0.16/𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟
1.095×$0.15=$0.16/year
✅ Summary
Metric ChatGPT Google
Annual energy ~27.4 kWh ~1.1 kWh
Annual cost ~$4.11 ~$0.16
So if one average person used ChatGPT for 10 queries a day instead of Google, it would cost about $4/year in energy—small in personal terms, but meaningful when scaled across millions of users.
Let me know if you want the carbon footprint comparison too!