Book Brew 139: How Many ChatGPT Prompts Does It Take to Match One Jacket? (And Other Eco-Sins You’re Probably Ignoring)

Before you throw shade at AI’s carbon footprint, let’s talk about your Netflix habit.

As I was re-reading The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek, I came across a mention of Patagonia’s ad campaign in 2011, telling people not to buy their R2 jacket.  It got me thinking about all of the AI skeptics who are constantly throwing out the “AI is the devil because it is bad for the environment” argument.  

Patagonia Said “Don’t Buy This Jacket”: Why That Matters

According to the ad, the making of just one R2 jacket “required 135L water, enough to meet the daily needs (three glasses a day) of 45 people.  Its journey from its origin as 60% recycled polyester to our Reno warehouse generated nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide.  24 times the weight of the finished product.  This jacket left behind, on its way to Reno, two-thirds its weight in waste.”

But What About ChatGPT? How One Prompt Stacks Up

So what does one prompt in an AI tool like ChatGPT look like in terms of electricity usage, water consumption, and carbon dioxide emissions? And how does that compare to the R2 jacket?

Let’s break it down by the gram, watt, and drop.

The reason for the range in how many prompts equal one jacket is that not every prompt is equal.  It highly depends on the length of the prompt and the model being used.

That is a lot of prompts for one jacket.  But, that doesn’t really compare apples to apples, now does it?

Scroll Guilt: Comparing AI to Social Media and Streaming

So, I started to think about the other thing that comes to mind when people start spouting off their environmental concerns with AI (typically a diatribe they posted on a social media platform……oh, the irony!), how does one prompt in an AI tool like ChatGPT compare to the use of things a lot of people have embraced as part of their daily lives? Social media.  Internet browsing.  Video streaming.  Yep, these are all things many of us do every day, all day.

Platform CO₂e daily usage and “equivalent ChatGPT prompts”

Annual CO₂e and “equivalent ChatGPT prompts” (United States, per person)

If all those numbers made your head hurt like it did mine just researching it all, let me give you the TL;DR: the total CO₂ emissions used per year on things like social media/streaming/browsing equals somewhere between 88,000–1,344,000 ChatGPT prompts per year.  That’s a lot of prompts!!

The Real Carbon Offender Might Be…You

Really take in those total numbers again.  88,000 to 1,344,000 prompts per year to equal the average US person’s social media, video streaming, web usage, phone charging.  

I’m not by any means saying that AI usage isn’t a strain on the environment….it for sure is.  But, while complaining about it, are you also looking at the other aspects of your life that also contribute to the strain on the environment? 

Don’t Preach If You’re Not Amish (Seriously)

Unless you are living like the Amish (at least the ones I know in Pennsylvania), you probably shouldn’t be throwing stones in your glass house….you’re not perfect (neither am I).

Ways to truly reduce your impact on our beautiful planet we call home:

• Growing your own food
• Getting places by foot, bike, scooter, horse and buggy
• Making/mending your own clothes
• Not using electricity 

Living the Hypocrisy (We All Do It)

I certainly don’t meet those requirements. 

• I try to grow as much of my food as possible (didn’t do so well on that front this year, but contributed to the pollinators by growing lots of flowers) and get the rest from as close to local sources as I can.  
• The place we live has unfortunately not been built for safe passage outside a vehicle, so we do use our vehicles to get around; however, our annual mileage is super low - last year it was just over 7,000 miles between our two vehicles.
• I have made a few clothes, but I also do a lot to mend the clothes I have, rather than buying new ones.   
• For electricity, I only turn on lights when I need them, we keep many things unplugged when not in use, but I for sure overuse the internet.  

TL;DR: Do Your Homework Before You Judge AI

My parting thoughts on this touchy subject: before you buy into all the media hype about how “bad” AI is (or even how “great” it is), first, maybe do your own research and then form your own opinion.  Second, consider how other areas of your life might be contributing to overconsumption.  

If you want to read way more scientific research about this than I am qualified to write (or even care to), you can read some of these articles:

• https://epoch.ai/gradient-updates/how-much-energy-does-chatgpt-use 
• https://cacm.acm.org/sustainability-and-computing/making-ai-less-thirsty/
• https://sustainability.google/google-2025-environmental-report/
• https://www.wri.org/insights/whats-difference-between-water-use-and-water-consumption
• https://greenspector.com/en/what-is-the-environmental-footprint-of-social-networking-applications-2023/
• https://ctprodstorageaccountp.blob.core.windows.net/prod-drupal-files/documents/resource/public/Carbon-impact-of-video-streaming.pdf
• https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=74&t=11
  

Note: research was gathered and fed into ChatGPT 5 Pro for analysis to help create the data in this article, utilizing 5 total prompts.  

Ponder This

1. If you had to give up one tech habit to offset your carbon guilt, which would it be: streaming, scrolling, or prompting?
2. Does living “sustainably” mean opting out of modern life entirely, or is there a smarter middle ground?
3. What environmental compromises are you actually willing to make?

Books/Newsletters

• The Infinite Game - Simon Sinek