AI Agents Are Using an Outrageous Amount of Electricity

Climate scientist Zeke Hausfather calculated the energy use of his daily AI assistant Claude Code: 1.2-5.9 kWh per day, more than two refrigerators running around the clock. 96% of tokens go to the agent re-reading its own context.

• Daily Claude Code use consumes 1.2-5.9 kWh
• Over 8 weeks the agent processed 3.2 billion tokens
• 96% of tokens are the agent re-reading its own context
• Annual emissions equal half those of an EV driven 11,500 miles