A good example comes from looking towards the impact of incorporating AI into search engines such as Google. A single generative AI query could use 4 to 5 times more energy than a regular search engine query. Others found that average energy consumption per search could be 6.9–8.9 Wh, compared to 0.3 Wh for a standard Google search. This gives us an enormous range of 4-30 times larger. Whichever end of the scale the figures land, it’s a significant increase.

Does the result quality increases at the same rate?

The report is available on the green web foundation