An hour of asking ChatGPT questions uses a few times the energy of a Google search, but only a small fraction of an hour spent streaming Netflix on the television.

Name: An hour of asking ChatGPT questions uses a few times the energy of a Google search, but only a small fraction of an hour spent streaming Netflix on the television.
Creator: Order-of-magnitude estimates cross-checked across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude (2026)
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Gaming (console)
17×
Netflix (TV)
17×
Netflix (laptop)
5×
Zoom (HD)
5×
TikTok
3×
Instagram
2×
Netflix (phone)
2×
ChatGPT (text)
1×
Music (phone)
0.6×
Google search
0.3×

Rough energy used per hour of each activity, counting both the device in front of you and the network and data centres behind it, all indexed to an hour of asking ChatGPT text questions (= 1). These are order-of-magnitude estimates, not lab measurements: the real figure swings with your screen size, settings and connection. The pattern is the point, not the exact number.

Why this is happening

The screen and the chip decide almost everything. The same Netflix show costs about 2 times a ChatGPT question on a phone, 5 times on a laptop and 17 times on a big television, because a large, bright panel draws far more power than a small one.
A text answer from an AI arrives in a quick burst and then the work stops, so an hour of questions and answers stays light, only a few times a Google search and far below an hour of video.
Gaming pushes a powerful graphics chip close to full tilt for the whole hour, which is why a console sits at the top of this list at about 17 times a ChatGPT question, level with streaming Netflix to a big television.

The take

The real split is not screens versus AI, it is how hard you push the silicon. A search, a song or a quick AI question barely registers. The energy goes on the hours of high-definition gaming and big-screen streaming, which each use many times what an hour of ChatGPT does.

Source: Order-of-magnitude estimates cross-checked across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude (2026)

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<a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/activity-energy">
  <img src="https://macrosnaps.app/charts/activity-energy.png" alt="Rough energy used per hour of each activity, counting both the device in front of you and the network and data centres behind it, all indexed to an hour of asking ChatGPT text questions (= 1). These are order-of-magnitude estimates, not lab measurements: the real figure swings with your screen size, settings and connection. The pattern is the point, not the exact number." width="640" style="max-width:100%;height:auto">
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<p style="font:12px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;color:#6b7280;max-width:640px">
  Chart: <a href="https://macrosnaps.app/c/activity-energy">MacroSnaps</a>,
  <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY 4.0</a>. Source: Order-of-magnitude estimates cross-checked across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude (2026).
</p>

Cite it

Cites MacroSnaps for the chart. For the numbers themselves, cite the source below.

MacroSnaps (2026). "An hour of asking ChatGPT questions uses a few times the energy of a Google search, but only a small fraction of an hour spent streaming Netflix on the television." Edition No. 29, 9 August 2026. https://macrosnaps.app/c/activity-energy

Permanent link: https://macrosnaps.app/c/activity-energy

The underlying data

MacroSnaps drew this chart. The numbers in it are from Order-of-magnitude estimates cross-checked across Google, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude (2026). Their terms, not ours, govern the underlying data.