Grok 2 Environmental Impact
xAI's conversational model
- Architecture
- Transformer Mixture-of-Experts (decoder-only)
- Parameters
- 314B
- Context
- 128,000 tokens
- Provider
- xAI
Energy per query
0.50 Wh
2x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.17 g
US South (Tennessee) grid (420 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
3 mL
~333 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
Memphis, Tennessee (Colossus)
Provider
xAI
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
420 g CO2/kWh (30% renewable)
How does Grok 2 compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Grok consumes approximately 0.5 Wh per query, making it relatively efficient for a full-size model. xAI's Colossus supercomputer in Memphis houses approximately 150,000 H100 GPUs, 50,000 H200 GPUs, and 30,000 GB200 GPUs — one of the largest GPU clusters in the world — but the energy per individual query remains modest.
Power Source & Carbon
Grok runs exclusively at xAI's Colossus facility in Memphis, Tennessee, built in just 122 days starting September 2024. The facility consumes nearly 2 gigawatts of power. Memphis's grid is served by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which generates power from a mix of nuclear (~40%), natural gas (~25%), hydro (~10%), coal (~15%), and renewables (~10%). The facility has faced scrutiny for initially running on diesel generators and for air quality concerns from local residents.
Water Usage
Grok uses approximately 3 mL of water per query. The Memphis facility uses evaporative cooling towers, drawing from the local water supply. Memphis sits above the Memphis Sand aquifer, one of the largest artesian aquifer systems in the world, which provides the city's water. The rapid scale-up of xAI's facility has raised local concerns about water resource impact.
About Grok 2
Grok 2 is a 314B-parameter text and chat model from xAI, released August 13, 2024. xAI's conversational model. At 0.50 Wh per query, it uses roughly the same energy as a Google search. It runs on a Transformer Mixture-of-Experts (decoder-only) architecture.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — xAI has not published official energy data for Grok 2. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Grok 2 in Context
Your yearly Grok 2 footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual Grok 2 usage consumes 4.6 kWh — comparable to running a LED light bulb for a month. That produces 1.6 kg of CO₂.
Key Insights
xAI Grok Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your Grok 2 usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Grok 2.
Calculate My ComputeFrequently Asked Questions
How much energy does Grok 2 use per query?
Each Grok 2 query consumes approximately 0.50 Wh of energy. This is 2x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Grok 2's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Memphis, Tennessee (Colossus), each query produces approximately 0.17 g of CO2. The grid in this region has a carbon intensity of 420 g CO2/kWh with 30% renewable energy.
How much water does Grok 2 use?
Each query consumes approximately 3 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Grok 2 compare to a Google search?
A Grok 2 query uses 2x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Grok 2 uses 0.50 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Transformer Mixture-of-Experts (decoder-only)
Parameters
314B
Context window
128,000 tokens
Release date
2024-08-13
Open source
No
Training data cutoff
2024-07