Phi-4 Reasoning Environmental Impact
14B reasoning model that outperforms o1-mini and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-70B
- Architecture
- Dense Transformer with chain-of-thought reasoning
- Parameters
- 14B
- Context
- 128,000 tokens
- Provider
- Microsoft
Energy per query
1.8 Wh
6x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.79 g
Global Average grid (475 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
7 mL
~154 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
Self-hosted / Azure
Provider
Microsoft
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
475 g CO2/kWh (27% renewable)
How does Phi-4 Reasoning compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Phi-4 Reasoning is a 14B model that outperforms o1-mini and DeepSeek-R1-Distill-70B on reasoning benchmarks. At ~1.8 Wh per reasoning query, the extended thinking adds significant overhead versus standard Phi-4 (~0.35 Wh). The Reasoning Plus variant uses even more compute for harder problems.
Power Source & Carbon
Open-source. Can be self-hosted on a single GPU, making it one of the most accessible reasoning models.
Water Usage
At ~6.5 mL per reasoning query. Standard non-reasoning use consumes much less.
About Phi-4 Reasoning
Phi-4 Reasoning is an open-source text and chat model from Microsoft, released in May 10, 2025, that runs below the category average for energy consumption at 1.8 Wh per query. Because its weights are publicly available, it can be self-hosted on any infrastructure — meaning its carbon footprint depends entirely on where and how you choose to run it. At 14B parameters, it 14b reasoning model that outperforms o1-mini and deepseek-r1-distill-70b.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — Microsoft has not published official energy data for Phi-4 Reasoning. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Phi-4 Reasoning in Context
Your yearly Phi-4 Reasoning footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual Phi-4 Reasoning usage consumes 16.4 kWh — roughly what a fridge uses in a month. That produces 7.2 kg of CO₂.
Key Insights
Microsoft Phi Family
How energy efficiency has evolved across versions.
What does your Phi-4 Reasoning usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Phi-4 Reasoning.
Calculate My ComputeFrequently Asked Questions
How much energy does Phi-4 Reasoning use per query?
Each Phi-4 Reasoning query consumes approximately 1.8 Wh of energy. This is 6x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Phi-4 Reasoning's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Self-hosted / Azure, each query produces approximately 0.79 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 Phi-4 Reasoning use?
Each query consumes approximately 7 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Phi-4 Reasoning compare to a Google search?
A Phi-4 Reasoning query uses 6x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Phi-4 Reasoning uses 1.8 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Dense Transformer with chain-of-thought reasoning
Parameters
14B
Context window
128,000 tokens
Release date
2025-05-10
Open source
Yes
Training data cutoff
2025-04