Show HN: AI Meter – Local token usage with energy and water estimates (ai-meter.app)

AI Meter has launched a new tool for Mac users that tracks the token usage of various AI coding agents, including Codex and Claude Code, while providing estimates of electricity and cooling water consumption. This application reads local provider token counts from user records without the need for accounts or external data sharing, thus prioritizing user privacy. Users can install AI Meter through a straightforward command, and the tool operates primarily offline, only checking for updates online. This initiative is significant for the AI/ML community as it offers a practical way to gauge the environmental impact of using different AI models, addressing growing concerns over energy consumption in machine learning applications. By estimating electricity usage at 0.39 kWh per million tokens and cooling water usage with adjustable parameters, AI Meter enhances users' awareness of their AI-related energy expenditures. Notably, model training and external energy inputs are excluded from the estimates, focusing solely on local usage scenarios based on industry research, thereby allowing developers and researchers to make more informed decisions about their AI applications' sustainability.