Footprint · version 1.1 — 14 juillet 2026
Our digital footprint, published
We ask SMEs to measure the footprint of their AI uses, so we publish ours. An initial estimate, acknowledged as rough: the method and every assumption are explicit, so they can be corrected as better data appears. Updated quarterly (next: October 2026).
Scope
The AI-Karma product in operation: website hosting, server functions, calls to the AI API. Out of scope at this stage: the founder's workstation (shared personal hardware) and development.
Estimate, orders of magnitude
| Item | Assumptions | Annual estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting (static site + functions) | Prototype traffic (fewer than 10,000 page views per year, about 1 g CO₂e per page view at the upper bound, “sustainable web design” literature) | < 10 kg CO₂e |
| AI API calls (reports and pre-analyses) | Fewer than 1,000 calls per year at prototype stage, multiplied by 2 to 5 Wh per LLM request (upper range of public 2025-2026 estimates) and by a US electricity mix of about 0.4 kg CO₂e/kWh | < 2 kg CO₂e |
| Product total (order of magnitude) | ≈ 10-15 kg CO₂e per year |
Honest reading: at prototype stage the product's footprint is negligible, the equivalent of a Lausanne-Geneva car trip. What matters is not today's figure but the trajectory: these items grow linearly with usage, and the AI API item will grow faster than the others if pre-analysis becomes the main acquisition channel. Hence targets set before it counts.
Estimate your own
The same formula, applied to your uses, the one from the guide “Environmental footprint of AI in SMEs”.
Electricity: 220–550 kWh/year · Footprint: 88–220 kg CO₂e/year
Upper bound ≈ 1470 km by car.
An order of magnitude, not a measurement: a range of 2–5 Wh per query (public estimates 2025-2026), 220 working days, car equivalent at 0.15 kg CO₂e/km. Hardware manufacture and cooling water are out of scope. The calculation runs in your browser — nothing is transmitted.
Quantified and dated targets
- 100 % renewable hosting, documented by the end of Q4 2026 decision to migrate to a Swiss host, or documented justification of the status quo. Current status: Vercel/AWS, “100 % renewable” through offset purchasing, documented but not chosen for that criterion.
- AI frugality ratio of at least 50 % : at least half of the reports served without an AI call (deterministic template), measured as soon as anonymous usage metrics exist, after the pilots.
- Quarterly update of this estimate with the real volumes.
Purchasing criteria
Every new infrastructure choice (hosting, API, CDN) goes through the “footprint” criterion of our supplier grid: documented energy and climate commitments, failing which a written justification. Applied retroactively to Vercel and Anthropic on 10.07.2026.
Frugality by design
- Template report without AI available for 100 % of assessments.
- Minimal audience measurement without cookies (script of about 1 KB); no advertising trackers, no videos and no external fonts.
- Statically pre-rendered pages; your data in local storage (zero server requests to consult your own assessments).
This page applies to our own product the “footprint measurement” indicator of the Environmental dimension of the KarmaScore, with the honest mark it earns us: our full self-assessment is public. Do you think an assumption is wrong? Write to us: contact@ai-karma.ch.