Grok 3 Environmental Impact
xAI's current flagship model
- Architecture
- Transformer (decoder-only)
- Context
- 128,000 tokens
- Provider
- xAI
Energy per query
1.2 Wh
4x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.46 g
US South (Tennessee) grid (420 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
2 mL
~435 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 3 compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Grok 3 is a significantly larger model than Grok 2, trained on xAI's expanded Colossus cluster. Estimated at ~1.2 Wh per query based on its capability level (comparable to GPT-4o / Claude Sonnet class). xAI has not disclosed any energy data.
Power Source & Carbon
Runs on xAI's Colossus facility in Memphis, Tennessee. The facility now consumes nearly 2 GW. The TVA grid has a carbon intensity of approximately 380 gCO₂/kWh.
Water Usage
Estimated at ~2.3 mL per query. The Memphis facility uses evaporative cooling in a hot, humid climate.
About Grok 3
Grok 3 is a text and chat model from xAI, released in February 17, 2025. xAI's current flagship model. Each query uses 1.2 Wh of energy and produces 0.46 g of CO₂. That's about 4.0x what a Google search consumes.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — xAI has not published official energy data for Grok 3. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Grok 3 in Context
At global scale
With an estimated 10M+ daily users averaging 10 queries each, Grok 3 consumes roughly 120 MWh of electricity per day — enough to power 4000 homes.
Your yearly Grok 3 footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual Grok 3 usage consumes 10.9 kWh — roughly what a fridge uses in a month. That produces 4.2 kg of CO₂.
xAI Grok Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your Grok 3 usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Grok 3.
Calculate My ComputeFrequently Asked Questions
How much energy does Grok 3 use per query?
Each Grok 3 query consumes approximately 1.2 Wh of energy. This is 4x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Grok 3's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Memphis, Tennessee (Colossus), each query produces approximately 0.46 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 3 use?
Each query consumes approximately 2 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Grok 3 compare to a Google search?
A Grok 3 query uses 4x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Grok 3 uses 1.2 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Transformer (decoder-only)
Context window
128,000 tokens
Release date
2025-02-17
Open source
No
Training data cutoff
2025-01