Overview

• Google reports a median Gemini text prompt uses 0.24 Wh of electricity, emits about 0.03 gCO2, and consumes roughly 0.26 mL of water.
• Its full‑stack accounting attributes energy use to TPUs (~58%), host CPU and memory (~25%), idle capacity (~10%), and data‑center overhead (~8%).
• The company says per‑prompt energy fell about 33x and the carbon footprint about 44x year over year for Gemini text queries.
• The study covers text inference only and excludes training, networking, and end‑user devices, uses market‑based emissions, omits indirect water tied to power generation, and does not disclose prompt token counts.
• Researchers praise the transparency yet call for location‑based emissions, indirect water accounting, third‑party verification, standardized metrics, and data on aggregate usage as Google’s overall emissions have risen in recent years.