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.
@article{arxiv.2307.05510,
title = {Carbon Emissions of Quantum Circuit Simulation: More than You Would Think},
author = {Jinyang Li and Qiang Guan and Dingwen Tao and Weiwen Jiang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2307.05510},
year = {2023}
}