Carbon Emissions of Quantum Circuit Simulation: More than You Would Think

TL;DR

This paper introduces the environmental impact of quantum circuit simulation, revealing that large-scale simulations can produce significantly higher CO2 emissions compared to training large machine learning models.

Contribution

It presents the first model to estimate CO2e emissions from quantum circuit simulations, highlighting their potential environmental impact.

Findings

Large quantum simulations (43 qubits) emit 48 times more CO2e than training a transformer model.

Quantum circuit simulation's environmental impact is substantial and warrants further investigation.

Preliminary model for estimating emissions from quantum simulations is proposed.

Abstract

The rapid advancement of quantum hardware brings a host of research opportunities and the potential for quantum advantages across numerous fields. In this landscape, quantum circuit simulations serve as an indispensable tool by emulating quantum behavior on classical computers. They offer easy access, noise-free environments, and real-time observation of quantum states. However, the sustainability aspect of quantum circuit simulation is yet to be explored. In this paper, we introduce for the first time the concept of environmental impact from quantum circuit simulation. We present a preliminary model to compute the CO2e emissions derived from quantum circuit simulations. Our results indicate that large quantum circuit simulations (43 qubits) could lead to CO2e emissions 48 times greater than training a transformer machine learning model.