Grok 3 Environmental Impact
xAI's current flagship model
Per query = Short query (~300 tokens)
Energy per query
1.2 Wh
CO2 per query
0.46 g
Water per query
2 mL
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.
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