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AI & the Environment
How does AI energy use compare to the digital activities we do every day?
A common concern about AI is its energy use. The research tells a more nuanced story than many headlines suggest. A single AI text prompt uses roughly the same energy as watching TV for about nine seconds. When compared to video streaming, cloud gaming, or video conferencing — activities most of us do daily — AI text interactions are among the least energy-intensive digital services available. Here is what the research shows.
Energy use comparison — per hour of activity
Baseline
AI Text Prompt
~0.24 Wh
per query — roughly 9 seconds of TV energy
Low Impact
Email / Web Browsing
~10–20 Wh/hr
routine online activity
Moderate Impact
YouTube / Netflix
~100–200 Wh/hr
video streaming uses significantly more energy than AI
Moderate Impact
Zoom / Video Calls
~150 Wh/hr
video conferencing at higher energy cost than AI
High Impact
Cloud / PC Gaming
100–500+ Wh/hr
orders of magnitude more than AI text services
The bigger picture
AI workloads represent only a fraction of total data center electricity demand. The majority of that demand comes from video streaming, cloud storage, and everyday online activity — things most students and teachers are already doing. According to Pew Research Center, AI is one component of a much larger digital infrastructure that has been growing for decades.
AI companies are also investing heavily in efficiency. Google's research shows that advances in hardware, model architecture, and data center cooling have dramatically reduced the energy and carbon intensity per AI query over the past several years — a trend that is expected to continue.
What this means for ACS
At Ashland City Schools, we take our environmental responsibility seriously. The AI tools we use — MagicSchool, Claude, Gemini, NotebookLM, and others — are primarily text-based, placing them among the least energy-intensive digital services available. We prioritize tools from providers who are transparent about their sustainability practices and committed to reducing their environmental impact over time.
We believe that being informed about these tradeoffs is part of responsible AI use — which is why this information is part of our AI Action Plan and available right here on the portal.
Research sources
Elsworth et al. (2024) — arXiv
AI Energy Use Baseline
"Median energy use per AI text prompt is approximately 0.24 Wh, comparable to only a few seconds of television viewing."
View source
National Centre for AI — Jisc (UK)
Video Streaming vs. AI
"Video streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube consume substantially more energy per hour of use than generative AI services."
View source
Forbes — John Koetsier
Netflix, YouTube & Zoom Comparisons
"Streaming video and video conferencing services like Netflix, YouTube, and Zoom use significantly more energy per hour than typical AI interactions."
View source
Pew Research Center
Data Center Context
"AI workloads are only one portion of total data center electricity demand, which is dominated by video streaming, cloud services, and everyday online activity."
View source
Mucky Paws Analysis
Gaming & High-Intensity Services
"Cloud gaming and high-performance PC gaming can consume orders of magnitude more electricity per hour than AI text-based services."
View source
Sustainability by Numbers
General Carbon & Energy Context
"Per-query emissions from large language models are small compared to common digital activities such as streaming video or gaming."
View source
Note: Energy figures are approximate and vary based on hardware, data center efficiency, usage patterns, and geographic location. Sources reflect published research and analysis as of 2024–2025. We present this information to support informed, balanced conversations about AI and sustainability.
MagicSchool Generations
Ashland City Schools — Past 12 months
Total AI generations
0
MagicSchool AI generations at Ashland City Schools
Active educators
0
using MagicSchool
Avg per educator
0
generations each
Est. hours saved
0
at ~3 min per generation
Last updated: -
Data from MagicSchool dashboard
AI Energy in Perspective
Ashland City Schools — MagicSchool generations converted to real-world equivalents
Our 0 generations used approximately 0 Wh of energy total — and saved educators 0 hours of online research. Here is what that looks like in everyday terms.
60W LED bulb
0
hours of light
Total AI energy equals running a LED bulb for this long
YouTube streaming
0
hours of video
Equivalent YouTube hours — each generation uses only ~9 seconds of streaming energy
Browsing saved
0
Wh not used
Energy not spent browsing online for content at ~15 Wh/hr
Each AI generation uses ~0.24 Wh — about 9 seconds of TV energy. One hour of YouTube uses the same energy as roughly 0 AI generations. Source: Elsworth et al. (2024), Google Cloud.
The 0 hours educators saved by using MagicSchool instead of browsing online represents approximately 0 Wh of browsing energy avoided — at a typical rate of ~15 Wh/hr. Source: National Centre for AI, Jisc.
Last updated: -
Based on MagicSchool dashboard data