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#17 of 30 · AI cloud & data-centre builder

Crusoe

Built its brand on flared gas; builds Stargate on a Texas gas plant.

San Francisco, California·crusoe.ai ·Verified Oct 17, 2026
BGood confidence
Index score
Good confidence

In plain words

How scores work

Crusoe scores 45 out of 100 — middle of the pack. Some disclosure or clean-energy commitments, offset by rising emissions or blind spots. Confidence in this score is good confidence (B).

What helps

  • Water · Closed-loop cooling at Abilene evaporates no water in normal operation; the city's mayor puts annual use at about half a day of municipal consumption.
  • Conduct · Sites in wind-rich West Texas and uses closed-loop cooling rather than evaporative towers.

What hurts

  • Carbon · Abilene pairs the ERCOT grid with roughly 360 MW of on-site gas by January 2026 and a proposal for 41 more turbines running nearly year-round.
  • Commitments · 'Climate-aligned' positioning but no dated net-zero, 24/7 carbon-free or water target.
  • Conduct · Abilene's generators and turbines were authorised through Texas 'permit by rule' filings with no public notice or comment.

What nobody knows

  • Per-prompt energy disclosed
  • Per-prompt water disclosed
  • Training emissions in model cards
  • Water-use effectiveness reported
  • Third-party verified AI figures
  • +1 more

Crusoe began by running computers on natural gas that would otherwise be flared at oil wells, claims 2.7 million tonnes of CO₂e avoided since 2018 and says Crusoe Cloud runs on 100% renewable energy; in 2025 it sold the flare-mitigation and bitcoin business to NYDIG. It is now the developer and operator of Stargate Abilene for Oracle and OpenAI: 1.2 GW, closed-loop cooling on a wind-heavy Texas grid, plus 10 gas turbines and 62 diesel generators permitted by rule, with 41 more turbines proposed. Its impact reports count 'Scope 4' avoided emissions, a category no standard recognises.

Products
Crusoe Cloud · Stargate Abilene (developer and operator) · Crusoe Managed Inference
Hosting
Own-built campuses: Abilene, Texas for Oracle and OpenAI; Crusoe Cloud regions in Iceland and the United States.

Key figures

Per-prompt and fleet metrics. Hover a title for what it means; open “How we got this number” for the working.

How to read the labels:Company figureCompany figure. Published by the company itself. We take it as given and record the scope next to it.Measured independentlyMeasured independently. Measured or estimated by researchers or analysts with no stake in the result.ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.DerivedDerived. Arithmetic on a disclosed or independent input using a published conversion factor.Not disclosedNot disclosed. The company publishes nothing on this and no defensible estimate exists.— hover any label.
Energy per promptElectricity used to answer one typical request. Under 0.3 Wh is good. A 10 W LED bulb uses 0.3 Wh in about two minutes.
0.34
Wh / typical prompt
≈ 28.3 smartphone charges per 1,000 prompts
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Sam Altman (blog)Data Center Dynamics

ecogpt.co estimate; no company figure.

How we got this number

Crusoe builds and runs the Abilene campus for Oracle and OpenAI; the dominant workload is ChatGPT, whose own figure is 0.34 Wh per average query. Uncertainty roughly ±3×.

Water per promptWater evaporated cooling the servers for one request. Scope matters: on-site cooling only, or also the water used to generate the electricity (which adds ≈1.8 mL per Wh).
0.03
mL / typical prompt
≈ 0.07 500 mL bottles per 1,000 prompts
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Sam Altman (blog)Data Center DynamicsTechRepublic

On-site cooling only, so comparable with Google and OpenAI's figures.

How we got this number

0.34 Wh per prompt × 0.1 L/kWh (estimated WUE for closed-loop cooling). Counting the water evaporated to generate the electricity adds ≈0.61 mL.

Carbon per promptGreenhouse gas from one request on the grid where it actually runs. Below 0.1 g is clean. A kilometre in a petrol car is about 170 g.
0.143
gCO₂e / typical prompt
≈ 0.84 km driven (petrol car) per 1,000 prompts
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Sam Altman (blog)Data Center Dynamics

Location-based: what the grid actually emitted. Renewable certificates would bring the market-based figure near zero.

How we got this number

0.34 Wh × 420 gCO₂/kWh (Texas grid plus on-site gas, location-based).

Annual emissionsThe company's whole yearly footprint, in million tonnes of CO₂e. Clouds and device makers dwarf pure labs because they also count shops, logistics or products. Compare the trend, not the size.
2.35
MtCO₂e / year (sites it operates)
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.CleanviewData Center Dynamics

Location-based estimate for the AI fleet only; not comparable with a full corporate inventory.

How we got this number

800 MW × 8,760 h × 80% utilisation × 420 gCO₂/kWh (Texas grid plus on-site gas). Compute only — nothing else the company does is counted.

Emissions trendDirection of travel against last year or the company's own baseline. Negative is good. Positive means the AI build-out is outrunning clean energy.
+300
% (Abilene from 200 MW to 1.2 GW)
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Data Center DynamicsCleanview
How we got this number

Abilene's first 200 MW came online in September 2025 and the campus is sized at 1.2 GW; the sites Crusoe operates grow several-fold in a year.

Water per kWh (WUE)Litres of water consumed per kilowatt-hour of server electricity, across the fleet. 0.15 is excellent, 0.3 is good, 1.8 is the US data-centre average.
0.10
L/kWh
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.TechRepublicCrusoe
How we got this number

Crusoe describes Abilene's cooling as closed-loop with no evaporation in normal operation; a small allowance covers make-up water and peak days.

Clean electricityShare of electricity matched with renewable or carbon-free sources. Annual matching counts certificates bought anywhere; hourly matching on the same grid is far stricter.
40.0
% (ERCOT wind and solar share net of on-site gas)
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.CleanviewCrusoe
How we got this number

ERCOT ran on roughly 40% wind and solar in 2025; Abilene's on-site gas lowers the blend, while Crusoe Cloud's Iceland region is fully renewable.

Hardware & materials

The chips, power, copper and future e-waste behind the fleet — the part sustainability reports leave out

Factors we use
AI chips in service
300,000
accelerators operated (order of magnitude)
≈ 4,167 racks of 72 GPUs
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Data Center DynamicsData Center Dynamics

GPUs, TPUs or custom accelerators the company runs. Analyst figures are in H100-equivalents, company figures in physical chips.

How we got this number

Abilene is planned for 450,000 GB200s and was roughly two thirds built by mid-2026; Crusoe Cloud's own regions add tens of thousands more. The chips at Abilene belong to Oracle, but Crusoe operates the site. ±2×.

Power draw
800
MW (2026)
≈ 600,000 US homes' worth of power
ecogpt.co estimateecogpt.co estimate. Our own estimate from published factors. The working is shown next to the number; treat it as an order of magnitude, not a measurement.Data Center DynamicsCleanview

Megawatts the AI fleet pulls. One megawatt runs roughly 750 US homes.

How we got this number

Abilene energised 200 MW in September 2025 and is building toward 1.2 GW across eight buildings by mid-2026; Crusoe Cloud's Iceland and US regions add a few tens of MW.

Electricity a year
5.61
TWh / year
≈ 534,286 US homes for a year
DerivedDerived. Arithmetic on a disclosed or independent input using a published conversion factor.Data Center DynamicsCleanviewSemiAnalysis

Terawatt-hours per year. One TWh is a year of electricity for about 95,000 US homes.

How we got this number

800 MW × 8,760 h × 80% utilisation. Compute fleet only.

Carbon baked into the hardware
154
ktCO₂e embodied in chips and servers
≈ 33,522 petrol cars driven for a year
DerivedDerived. Arithmetic on a disclosed or independent input using a published conversion factor.Data Center DynamicsData Center DynamicsarXiv 2607.05408NVIDIA developer blog

CO₂e emitted making the chips and servers before they answer a single prompt.

How we got this number

300,000 accelerators × 514 kg CO₂e each (chip plus share of the host server). Emitted in manufacturing, before the first prompt is served.

Future e-waste
5,100
tonnes of servers to retire within ~5 years
≈ 28 empty Boeing 747s by weight
DerivedDerived. Arithmetic on a disclosed or independent input using a published conversion factor.Data Center DynamicsData Center DynamicsNVIDIAThe Register

Tonnes of server hardware that will be retired in three to five years.

How we got this number

300,000 accelerators × 17 kg of server hardware each. Tomorrow's e-waste unless reused; generative AI could produce 2.5 Mt of it a year by 2030.

Copper in the build
21,600
tonnes of copper in the build
≈ copper for 260,241 electric cars
DerivedDerived. Arithmetic on a disclosed or independent input using a published conversion factor.Data Center DynamicsCleanviewBHPS&P Global Market Intelligence

Tonnes of copper in cabling, busbars and transformers.

How we got this number

800 MW × 27 t of copper per MW (cabling, busbars, transformers).

Fossil generators on site
72.0
fossil units permitted at Stargate Abilene (62 diesel generators, 10 gas turbines)
≈ 187 MW of backup capacity
Company figureCompany figure. Published by the company itself. We take it as given and record the scope next to it.Latitude Media / FloodlightThe Texas Tribune

Diesel backup units or gas turbines at the data centres, permitted or observed.

How we got this number

As site operator; 41 more turbines and 18 generators proposed.

Hardware reused or recycled
—
No hardware reuse or e-waste figure published.
Not disclosedNot disclosed. The company publishes nothing on this and no defensible estimate exists.

Share of retired servers and parts given a second life.

Mineral depletion
—
Only Mistral has published a mineral-depletion figure.
Not disclosedNot disclosed. The company publishes nothing on this and no defensible estimate exists.

Kilograms of antimony-equivalent, the life-cycle unit for scarce minerals consumed.

Score breakdown

Each pillar is 0–100; weights are fixed across the index

Energy efficiency — How much electricity one answer costs.weight 20% · confidence C
55
  • GB200 NVL72 liquid-cooled halls at Abilene; publishes no workload-level figures. Data Center Dynamics
Carbon intensity — How clean that electricity is, and whether total emissions are rising.weight 25% · confidence B
35
  • The 2024 Impact Report says Crusoe Cloud runs on 100% renewable energy and that flare mitigation avoided 2.7 MtCO₂e since 2018 — accounted for as 'Scope 4' avoided emissions, a category outside the GHG Protocol. CrusoeCrusoe
  • Abilene pairs the ERCOT grid with roughly 360 MW of on-site gas by January 2026 and a proposal for 41 more turbines running nearly year-round. CleanviewLatitude Media / Floodlight
Water — How much water the data centres consume, and whether it is replaced.weight 15% · confidence B
65
  • Closed-loop cooling at Abilene evaporates no water in normal operation; the city's mayor puts annual use at about half a day of municipal consumption. TechRepublicCrusoe
Transparency — How much the company actually publishes.weight 20% · confidence B
42
  • Annual impact report and a GHG-footprint post; no fleet PUE or WUE, no per-site electricity, and avoided emissions presented alongside actual ones. CrusoeCrusoe
Commitments — Whether it has dated, measurable climate and water targets.weight 10% · confidence C
30
  • 'Climate-aligned' positioning but no dated net-zero, 24/7 carbon-free or water target. Crusoe
Conduct — How it behaves: permits, lawsuits, gas turbines, community water.weight 10% · confidence B
40
  • Abilene's generators and turbines were authorised through Texas 'permit by rule' filings with no public notice or comment. The Texas TribuneLatitude Media / Floodlight
  • Sites in wind-rich West Texas and uses closed-loop cooling rather than evaporative towers. Crusoe

Models

What this company ships, and what each prompt costs

No model-level entries — this company hosts or supplies others rather than serving its own models.

Where the compute lives

Named sites from company disclosures and press reporting

OperationalConstructionPlanned
  • Stargate AbileneTexas, USA · Developer and operator; 1.2 GW; on-site gas.
  • Crusoe Cloud IcelandIceland · Geothermal and hydro grid.
  • San Francisco HQCalifornia, USA

Timeline

Incidents and developments involving this company

HighAir & power·Jul 9, 2026

Stargate Abilene adds 41 gas turbines and 62 diesel generators under a permit written for dry cleaners

A Floodlight and Texas Tribune investigation found Stargate's Abilene campus was authorised to run 10 gas turbines and 62 backup diesel generators through Texas 'permits by rule' that need no environmental study, public notice or comment — and has applied to add 41 turbines and 18 generators more.

OpenAI, Oracle, Crusoe
HighAir & power·Jan 15, 2026

Stargate Abilene pairs the Texas grid with ~360 MW of on-site gas

OpenAI's flagship Stargate campus went live in September 2025 with 200+ MW and is scaling toward 1.2 GW. Cleanview's tracking shows 29 gas turbines ordered and roughly 360 MW of behind-the-meter generation built by January 2026.

OpenAI, Crusoe