Amazon Nova Micro Environmental Impact
AWS's fastest text-only model — lowest latency
- Architecture
- Transformer (text-only, speed-optimised)
- Context
- 128,000 tokens
- Provider
- Amazon
Energy per query
0.15 Wh
about the same as a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.07 g
US East (Virginia) grid (450 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
0.33 mL
~3,030 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
AWS US East (Virginia)
Provider
Amazon
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
450 g CO2/kWh (25% renewable)
How does Amazon Nova Micro compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Amazon Nova Micro is a text-only model optimised for speed and cost, consuming approximately 0.15 Wh per query. It competes with GPT-4o-mini and Gemini Flash on efficiency while focusing purely on text tasks.
Power Source & Carbon
Runs on AWS infrastructure with Trainium/Inferentia chips.
Water Usage
At ~0.33 mL per query, Nova Micro has one of the lowest water footprints of any cloud-based model.
About Amazon Nova Micro
Amazon Nova Micro is a text and chat model from Amazon, released in December 3, 2024. AWS's fastest text-only model — lowest latency. Each query uses 0.15 Wh of energy and produces 0.07 g of CO₂. That's roughly comparable to a traditional Google search. It ranks in the top quartile of text and chat models for energy efficiency (#8 of 94).
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — Amazon has not published official energy data for Amazon Nova Micro. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Key Insights
Amazon Amazon Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your Amazon Nova Micro usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Amazon Nova Micro.
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How much energy does Amazon Nova Micro use per query?
Each Amazon Nova Micro query consumes approximately 0.15 Wh of energy. This is about the same as a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Amazon Nova Micro's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of AWS US East (Virginia), each query produces approximately 0.07 g of CO2. The grid in this region has a carbon intensity of 450 g CO2/kWh with 25% renewable energy.
How much water does Amazon Nova Micro use?
Each query consumes approximately 0.33 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Amazon Nova Micro compare to a Google search?
A Amazon Nova Micro query uses about the same as a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Amazon Nova Micro uses 0.15 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Transformer (text-only, speed-optimised)
Context window
128,000 tokens
Release date
2024-12-03
Open source
No
Training data cutoff
2024-10