Electric water heater (1 year) = 8 M AI prompts
Electric water heater (1 year) equals roughly 8 M AI prompts on the electricity side: 2,400,000 Wh, while an average text prompt weighs just 0.3 Wh. The math, the source and detailed equivalents are right below, with public, verifiable numbers.
Figures updated on June 30, 2026 · Source : US DOE : estimation de la conso des appareils (archive)
The electricity of a prompt covers inference: the work the model does in the data center while answering, cooling included. It does not include model training or server manufacturing. The everyday action, meanwhile, is measured at the plug, so the comparison is one use against another use.
Why 8 M prompts?
The math fits in three lines, using public, sourced values:
- 1.Electric water heater (1 year): 2,400,000 Wh (US DOE : estimation de la conso des appareils (archive))
- 2.1 text prompt: 0.3 Wh (published range: 0.24 to 0.4 Wh)
- 3.2,400,000 Wh ÷ 0.3 Wh ≈ 8 M prompts
In other words, “Electric water heater (1 year)” weighs as much as 8 M questions asked to a generative AI. It is an order of magnitude, not a to-the-decimal measurement: sources publish ranges, and we use a median value, explained in our methodology.
What about a generated image or a reasoning prompt?
Not every AI use weighs the same. A generated image costs about 9 Wh and a “reasoning” prompt about 20 Wh, versus 0.3 Wh for a simple text prompt. So “Electric water heater (1 year)” is also roughly 266,667 times one generated image, or 120,000 times one reasoning prompt.
Convert your own usageWhere do these numbers come from?
The value we use for “Electric water heater (1 year)” comes from “US DOE : estimation de la conso des appareils (archive)”, referenced like all our data on the Sources page. No number on this page is made up: every value can be traced back to a public document.
On the prompt side, published values range from 0.24 to 0.4 Wh: Google and OpenAI have shared their own figures, and the research institute Epoch AI produced an independent estimate. We use 0.3 Wh.