Grok 4.1 Environmental Impact
LMArena #1 at 1,483 Elo (Thinking) — improved emotional intelligence
- Architecture
- Dense Transformer with reasoning modes
- Context
- 2,000,000 tokens
- Provider
- xAI
Energy per query
9.0 Wh
30x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
3.1 g
US South (Tennessee) grid (420 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
17 mL
~60 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
xAI Memphis data centre
Provider
xAI
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
420 g CO2/kWh (30% renewable)
How does Grok 4.1 compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Grok 4.1 reached #1 on LMArena at 1,483 Elo (Thinking) and 1,465 Elo (non-reasoning). At ~9.0 Wh per query, it's slightly more energy-intensive than Grok 4 with improved emotional intelligence and personality coherence. The Fast variant with 2M context window is optimised for lower latency.
Power Source & Carbon
Runs on xAI's Memphis Colossus facility. xAI has expanded capacity significantly since Grok 4's launch.
About Grok 4.1
Grok 4.1 is a text and chat model from xAI, released in November 17, 2025. LMArena #1 at 1,483 Elo (Thinking) — improved emotional intelligence. Each query uses 9.0 Wh of energy and produces 3.1 g of CO₂. That's 30x the energy of a Google search — reflecting the computational demands of text and chat.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — xAI has not published official energy data for Grok 4.1. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Grok 4.1 in Context
The efficiency alternative
Gemini Nano performs the same type of task using just 0.01 Wh per query — 100% less energy than Grok 4.1. For a user sending 25 queries per day, switching would save 82.0 kWh per year.
Your yearly Grok 4.1 footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual Grok 4.1 usage consumes 82.1 kWh — a meaningful fraction of household electricity. That produces 27.9 kg of CO₂.
xAI Grok Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your Grok 4.1 usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Grok 4.1.
Calculate My ComputeFrequently Asked Questions
How much energy does Grok 4.1 use per query?
Each Grok 4.1 query consumes approximately 9.0 Wh of energy. This is 30x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Grok 4.1's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of xAI Memphis data centre, each query produces approximately 3.1 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 4.1 use?
Each query consumes approximately 17 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Grok 4.1 compare to a Google search?
A Grok 4.1 query uses 30x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Grok 4.1 uses 9.0 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Dense Transformer with reasoning modes
Context window
2,000,000 tokens
Release date
2025-11-17
Open source
No
Training data cutoff
2025-10