LLaMA 3.1 405B Environmental Impact
Largest open-source model ever released — landmark for open AI
- Architecture
- Dense Transformer (decoder-only)
- Parameters
- 405B
- Context
- 128,000 tokens
- Provider
- Meta
Energy per query
4.0 Wh
13x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
1.6 g
Global Average grid (475 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
8 mL
~133 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
Self-hosted (varies, requires multi-GPU)
Provider
Meta
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
475 g CO2/kWh (27% renewable)
How does LLaMA 3.1 405B compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
LLaMA 3.1 405B is the largest open-source model ever released, requiring multi-GPU setups (typically 8× A100/H100) for inference. At ~4 Wh per query, it consumes significantly more than smaller variants but matches or exceeds GPT-4-class models in capabilities while being fully open.
Power Source & Carbon
Due to its size, 405B typically runs on cloud GPU clusters. Infrastructure providers like Together AI, Fireworks, and major clouds offer hosted inference. Meta trained the model on its own infrastructure using approximately 60% renewable energy.
Water Usage
At ~7.5 mL per query, the 405B model has a moderate water footprint driven by its multi-GPU inference requirements.
About LLaMA 3.1 405B
LLaMA 3.1 405B is a 405B-parameter text and chat model from Meta, released July 23, 2024. Largest open-source model ever released — landmark for open AI. At 4.0 Wh per query, it uses 13x the energy of a Google search. It runs on a Dense Transformer (decoder-only) architecture.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — Meta has not published official energy data for LLaMA 3.1 405B. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
LLaMA 3.1 405B in Context
Your yearly LLaMA 3.1 405B footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual LLaMA 3.1 405B usage consumes 36.5 kWh — roughly what a fridge uses in a month. That produces 14.6 kg of CO₂.
Key Insights
Meta LLaMA Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your LLaMA 3.1 405B usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use LLaMA 3.1 405B.
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How much energy does LLaMA 3.1 405B use per query?
Each LLaMA 3.1 405B query consumes approximately 4.0 Wh of energy. This is 13x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is LLaMA 3.1 405B's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Self-hosted (varies, requires multi-GPU), each query produces approximately 1.6 g of CO2. The grid in this region has a carbon intensity of 475 g CO2/kWh with 27% renewable energy.
How much water does LLaMA 3.1 405B use?
Each query consumes approximately 8 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does LLaMA 3.1 405B compare to a Google search?
A LLaMA 3.1 405B query uses 13x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while LLaMA 3.1 405B uses 4.0 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Dense Transformer (decoder-only)
Parameters
405B
Context window
128,000 tokens
Release date
2024-07-23
Open source
Yes
Training data cutoff
2024-06