Qwen3.5 35B-A3B Environmental Impact
Popular mid-size open MoE model for self-hosting
Energy per query
0.55 Wh
2x more than a Google search (0.3 Wh)
CO2 per query
0.29 g
Global Average grid (458 gCO₂/kWh)
Water per query
2 mL
~500 queries to fill 1 litre
Processing location
Self-hosted (varies)
Provider
Alibaba
Category
Text / Chat
Grid carbon intensity
458 g CO2/kWh (32% renewable)
How does Qwen3.5 35B-A3B compare?
Detailed Breakdown
Energy Consumption
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B hits the sweet spot for self-hosting — a Mixture-of-Experts design activating only ~3B parameters per token, capable enough for most tasks at ~0.55 Wh per query while fitting on a single GPU with quantisation. Part of a family spanning 0.8B to 397B, all Apache 2.0 licensed.
Power Source & Carbon
Fully open-source. Very popular on Ollama and Hugging Face for local deployment.
Water Usage
At ~2.0 mL per query. Zero when self-hosted on consumer hardware.
About Qwen3.5 35B-A3B
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B is an open-source text and chat model from Alibaba, released in February 24, 2026, that runs well below the category average for energy consumption at 0.55 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 35B parameters, it popular mid-size open moe model for self-hosting.
These figures are estimates derived from hardware specifications and API benchmarks — Alibaba has not published official energy data for Qwen3.5 35B-A3B. Actual consumption may vary significantly depending on batching, quantisation, and infrastructure optimisations that we cannot observe from outside.
Qwen3.5 35B-A3B in Context
Your yearly Qwen3.5 35B-A3B footprint
At 25 queries per day, your annual Qwen3.5 35B-A3B usage consumes 5.0 kWh — comparable to running a LED light bulb for a month. That produces 2.6 kg of CO₂.
Key Insights
What does your Qwen3.5 35B-A3B usage cost the planet?
Use our calculator to estimate your personal environmental footprint based on how often you use Qwen3.5 35B-A3B.
Calculate My ComputeFrequently Asked Questions
How much energy does Qwen3.5 35B-A3B use per query?
Each Qwen3.5 35B-A3B query consumes approximately 0.55 Wh of energy. This is 2x more than a traditional Google search (~0.3 Wh).
What is Qwen3.5 35B-A3B's carbon footprint?
Based on the carbon intensity of Self-hosted (varies), each query produces approximately 0.29 g of CO2. The grid in this region has a carbon intensity of 458 g CO2/kWh with 32% renewable energy.
How much water does Qwen3.5 35B-A3B use?
Each query consumes approximately 2 mL of water, primarily used for cooling the data centers that process the request.
How does Qwen3.5 35B-A3B compare to a Google search?
A Qwen3.5 35B-A3B query uses 2x more than a Google search in terms of energy. A Google search uses approximately 0.3 Wh, while Qwen3.5 35B-A3B uses 0.55 Wh.
Technical Details
Architecture
Mixture-of-Experts Transformer (35B total, ~3B active) with hybrid thinking
Parameters
35B
Context window
262,000 tokens
Release date
2026-02-24
Open source
Yes
Training data cutoff
2026-01