REST API

AI Impact Calculator API

Calculate the carbon footprint, energy usage, and water consumption of any AI model call from your own application. One endpoint, zero setup.

Base URL

https://aiimpactcalculator.com/api/v1

Authentication

Pass your API key as a Bearer token in the Authorization header.

Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY

ℹ️

Try it now — no signup needed

Use the demo key aic_demo_key_12345 to make live requests below. Limited to 100 requests/month.

Endpoint

POST/api/v1/calculate

Request Body

Field	Type	Required	Description
model	string	Yes	AI model key (see table below)
tokens	number	Yes	Number of tokens (or images for image-gen)
grid	string	No	Power grid key (default: `global-avg`)
custom_wh_per_1k	number	Conditional	Required when model is `custom`

Model Values

model	Description	Energy rate
gpt-4	GPT-4 / Claude 3 Opus	4.5 Wh / 1k tokens
gpt-3.5	GPT-3.5 / Llama-70b	0.5 Wh / 1k tokens
llama-7b	Small (7B) Models	0.1 Wh / 1k tokens
image-gen	Image Generation	2.9 Wh / image
custom	Custom	Provide custom_wh_per_1k

Grid Values

grid	Description	Intensity
global-avg	Global Average	475 gCO2e/kWh
us-avg	US Average	380 gCO2e/kWh
eu-avg	EU Average	250 gCO2e/kWh
hydro-green	Green Grid (Hydro/Wind)	20 gCO2e/kWh
coal-heavy	Coal Heavy	820 gCO2e/kWh

Example Response

{
  "model": "gpt-4",
  "tokens": 50000,
  "grid": "eu-avg",
  "energy_kwh": 0.225,
  "carbon_gco2e": 56.25,
  "water_liters": 0.405,
  "equivalents": {
    "smartphones_charged": 18.75,
    "km_driven": 0.331,
    "led_hours": 25.0,
    "netflix_hours_sd": 0.88,
    "emails_equivalent": 14
  },
  "plan": "free",
  "rate_limit": {
    "limit": 100,
    "remaining": 99,
    "reset_at": "2026-04-01T00:00:00.000Z"
  },
  "methodology_url": "https://aiimpactcalculator.com/methodology"
}

Code Snippets

curl -X POST https://aiimpactcalculator.com/api/v1/calculate \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "model": "gpt-4",
    "tokens": 50000,
    "grid": "eu-avg"
  }'

Error Codes

HTTP Status	code	Meaning
401	UNAUTHORIZED	Missing or invalid API key
400	INVALID_MODEL	Unknown model value
400	INVALID_TOKENS	tokens must be a positive number
400	INVALID_GRID	Unknown grid value
400	MISSING_CUSTOM_RATE	custom_wh_per_1k required for custom model
400	BAD_REQUEST	Malformed JSON body
429	RATE_LIMIT_EXCEEDED	Monthly request limit reached

Rate Limiting

Limits are per calendar month and reset on the 1st. The current usage is returned in every response under rate_limit, and in these response headers:

X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 87
X-RateLimit-Reset: 2026-04-01T00:00:00.000Z

Pricing

Plan	Price	Requests/mo	Best for
Free	$0 / mo	100	Evaluation, personal projects
Indie	$9 / mo	5,000	Solo devs, small apps
Pro	$29 / mo	50,000	SaaS products, agencies
Business	$99 / mo	500,000	Enterprise, ESG reporting

Need a custom plan or higher volume? Contact us.

Try It Live

Uses the demo key. Runs against the real API.

model

tokens

grid

Ready to integrate?

The demo key is rate-limited. Contact us to get a production key, or use the methodology to understand how the numbers are calculated.

Read the Methodology