GPT-5.4 Mini Environmental Impact
Efficient tier of GPT-5.4 for high-volume use
- Architecture
- Multimodal Transformer (distilled)
- Context
- 256,000 tokens
- Provider
- OpenAI
Energy per query
1.0 Wh
3x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.44 g
US East (Virginia) grid (450 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
4 mL
~278 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
Azure / Multi-cloud
Provider
OpenAI
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
450 g CO2/kWh (25% renewable)
How does GPT-5.4 Mini compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
GPT-5.4 Mini delivers strong performance at ~1.0 Wh per query — roughly 5x more efficient than the Standard tier. Designed for cost-sensitive production workloads where GPT-5.4 quality is needed at higher throughput.
About GPT-5.4 Mini
GPT-5.4 Mini is a text and chat model from OpenAI, released in March 5, 2026. Efficient tier of GPT-5.4 for high-volume use. Each query uses 1.0 Wh of energy and produces 0.44 g of CO₂. That's about 3.3x what a Google search consumes.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — OpenAI has not published official energy data for GPT-5.4 Mini. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
GPT-5.4 Mini in Context
Your yearly GPT-5.4 Mini footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual GPT-5.4 Mini usage consumes 9.1 kWh — comparable to running a LED light bulb for a month. That produces 4.0 kg of CO₂.
OpenAI GPT Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your GPT-5.4 Mini usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use GPT-5.4 Mini.
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How much energy does GPT-5.4 Mini use per query?
Each GPT-5.4 Mini query consumes approximately 1.0 Wh of energy. This is 3x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is GPT-5.4 Mini's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Azure / Multi-cloud, each query produces approximately 0.44 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 GPT-5.4 Mini use?
Each query consumes approximately 4 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does GPT-5.4 Mini compare to a Google search?
A GPT-5.4 Mini query uses 3x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while GPT-5.4 Mini uses 1.0 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Multimodal Transformer (distilled)
Context window
256,000 tokens
Release date
2026-03-05
Open source
No
Training data cutoff
2026-01