parallelsversusdictators.org

I find AI indispensable for research when writing. The availability of information at science-fiction speed is a convenience I would have appreciated when I began writing Parallels a few years ago and only Google Search was available to me. (Not that Google, Wikipedia, etc., aren’t awesome resources, but AI cites them and other references at the bottom of its summaries. When in doubt, I always check those references, but sometimes I just need AI to refresh me on a date, place, name or spelling that I still half-remember.)

Convenience at a Price

The price, we’re told, is potentially huge. In the split-second it takes AI to find the information I requested and formulate a reply—usually in perfect English—it had to locate the sources, find the searched-for item, write it up and display it, how much energy was consumed, and how many gallons of water were needed to cool the giant processors in those massive data centers? Often, the neatly packaged response includes a helpful offer of further information based on my initial query. I feel like royalty, but I want to know the cost beyond my WiFi subscription.

To find an answer, I posed a Jeopardy-type question to AI: “Who was Pontiac, MI, named for?” The answer came in about half a second.

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AI’s Response

Pontiac, Michigan, was named for Chief Pontiac (also known as Obwaandi’eyaag), a famous Odawa (Ottawa) war chief who led a resistance against British forces in the Great Lakes region during the 18th century. 

Namesake Details

• Name: Pontiac (Obwandiyag)
• Tribal Affiliation: Odawa (Ottawa) Nation
• Historical Role: Led Native American resistance and a 1763 uprising against British military presence near Detroit and surrounding areas. Oakland County Historical Society +3

Would you like to learn more about the history of Pontiac’s founding in 1818 or its later growth as an industrial and automotive hub?6 sites

• Pontiac, Michigan – Founded in 1818, Pontiac was the second European-American organized settlement in what is now Metro Detroit, after Dearborn. It wa…

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My Reaction

I copied the response to my question and pasted it in the space above. As you can see, AI not only answered the question and cited the sources, it mentioned Wikipedia in a side bar that I trimmed and offered more information at the end, which I declined.

My next questions were: “Can you quantify the amount of electrical energy and air conditioning used to provide this response to my initial question? Also, how much water was needed to cool the equipment, and what becomes of the water used? Please provide any additional costs to give me a total figure.”

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AI’s Response

Answering your initial text query used an estimated 0.3 watt-hours (Wh) to 3 watt-hours of total electrical energy, required roughly 0.5 to 5 milliliters (mL) of water for cooling, and carried a physical operational cost of a tiny fraction of a cent. [1, 2, 3]

The precise consumption data fluctuates based on server hardware, data center location, and cooling efficiency. The resource breakdowns provide specific insight into this impact. [1, 2]

Electrical Energy and Air Conditioning

• Total Energy Consumption: A standard Large Language Model (LLM) text response draws between 0.3 Wh and 3 Wh of electricity. This is about 3 to 10 times more energy than a traditional search engine query and equivalent to running a 10-watt LED lightbulb for 2 to 18 minutes. [1]
• Air Conditioning & Cooling Overhead: Data center efficiency is tracked using Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE). In modern, highly efficient hyperscale facilities, environmental control and cooling consume roughly 7% to 15% of the incoming electricity. For older enterprise data centers, cooling overhead can jump past 30% of the total energy footprint. [1, 2, 3]

Water Use and What Becomes of It

• Water Volumetrics: AI data centers rely on fresh water to cool the server stacks, consuming an average of 1.8 liters per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of compute energy. Scaled down to a single short text response, your query required roughly 0.5 mL to 5 mL of water (roughly 10 to 100 drops). [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Fate of the Water: The water is categorized in two ways:
  • Water Consumption (Evaporation): The vast majority of on-site cooling water is run through evaporative cooling towers. This water is intentionally evaporated into the atmosphere to shed heat, meaning it is lost from the local municipal watershed.
  • Water Withdrawal (Recirculation): In facilities utilizing closed-loop liquid cooling systems, water is continuously recirculated and chilled via heat exchangers. It remains in the system unless it needs to be bled off due to mineral buildup, at which point it is treated and discharged as wastewater. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Additional Costs and Total Figure

• Electricity Cost: At the average U.S. commercial electricity rate (~$0.13 per kWh), the power cost to compute and cool your single query sits between $0.000039 and $0.00039. [1]
• Water Cost: At standard municipal rates, a few milliliters of water costs a mathematically negligible fraction of a penny.
• Total Economic Cost: Factoring in electricity, water, and hardware depreciation, the operational cost of processing the text response is less than $0.001 (one-tenth of a cent).

Would you like to explore how geographic location shifts this environmental footprint, or look into the carbon emissions associated with the grid electricity powering AI? [1, 2, 3]

13 sites

• How much electricity is used for air conditioning in the United States? – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)Mar 15, 2024 — According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), air conditioning is one of the largest uses of electricity in U.S. …U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) (.gov)
• AI has a hidden water cost − here’s how to calculate yours | News From The StatesSep 2, 2025 — Here are some estimates for water use by AI systems: * **Independent researchers and industry reports suggest that a reasonable ra…News From The States
• Water Consumption by Power Plants is Only 3% of Total Water Usage | Energy BlogApr 21, 2015 — According to some water use presenters, 38% of fresh water is used to cool power plants. However, in most cases, the water is retu…UCI Sites

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My Reaction

The answers AI gave are reassuringly microscopic costs for a query like mine. For example, electricity needed to answer my first question cost “a tiny fraction of a cent.” Also, water consumption for a brief text reply is calculated at “10 to 100 drops.”

Beyond these specifics, I admit that I was blown away by the amount of information. Not only do I not want to go deeper into the accounting, I also was happy to quit with the reassurance that AI seems frugal with both money and resources. But is this an accurate picture? Should we worry that AI is programmed to give an untruthfully favorable account of itself, or am I being paranoid?

Poor Governor Hocul. The New York Daily News reported today (July 28, 2026) that she is putting a hold on construction of new data centers in her state. Her fear is that nearby communities will suffer material harm from the proposed centers. But what’s her pessimism based on, if not the answers AI provides to questions like mine? There is overwhelming evidence that climate change results from human activity, but industrial oligarchs downplay it or blame it on natural factors.

In a typical day, I might used AI a dozen or more times. So, is my bill for the day just a few cents? I hope so, but I doubt it. I use Facebook, Reddit, etc., heavily as places to post articles like this one, and I get lots of views and visitors on my website as a result.

This “collateral damage” is impossible, at least for me, to even estimate. I do the damage because I am self-promoting my book. I try to write interesting and informative articles, ultimately to draw people to my website and sell copies of my book. The option was to pay thousands of dollars to a traditional publisher to do the promoting for me. How about a modest surcharge added to our phone bill for AI usage? I’d be content to pay it.

Another partial remedy is promotion of renewable energy sources and discouragement of the legislative obstacles posed by utility companies.

Meanwhile, what everyone can do is refrain from frivolous (in my subjective opinion) searches, computer games, and other idle online pursuits. Now that the thunderstorms have passed, I’m going for a walk.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.