Paying the brain's energy bill
Open accessAbstract
How have animals managed to maintain metabolically expensive brains given the volatile and fleeting availability of calories in the natural world? Here we review studies in support of three strategies that involve: 1) a reallocation of energy from peripheral tissues and functions to cover the costs of the brain, 2) an implementation of energy-efficient neural coding, enabling the brain to operate at reduced energy costs, and 3) efficient use of costly neural resources during food scarcity. Collectively, these studies reveal a heterogeneous set of energy-saving mechanisms that make energy-costly brains fit for survival.
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The mechanism of emergence of human consciousness is very energy efficient.
“The mechanism of its emergence is very energy efficient.”
From There is no such thing as conscious artificial intelligence (2025) · cites this paper as Padamsey and Rochefort, 2023
The brain uses approximately 400 kCal per day, less than 0.5 kWh.
“The brain itself uses approximately 400 kCal per day, which is less than 0.5 kWh”
From There is no such thing as conscious artificial intelligence (2025) · cites this paper as Padamsey and Rochefort, 2023
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Fox, S., & Rey, V. F. (2024) · Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction · doi:10.3390/make6030071 · Cited by 22 · see citing works
“However, human beings have evolved to be economical in the expenditure of brain energy [50].”
BackgroundThere is no such thing as conscious artificial intelligence
Porębski, A., & Figura, J. (2025) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-025-05868-8 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
“The brain itself uses approximately 400 kCal per day, which is less than 0.5 kWh, and its energy processes appear to be optimised for low energy consumption (Balasubramanian, 2021; Padamsey and Rochefort, 2023).”
Influential
- Authors
- Padamsey, Z., & Rochefort, N. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
- Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain (GB)
- Venue
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-02
- Volume
- 78
- Pages
- 102668
- ISSN
- 0959-4388 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4312211297
- Cited by
- 114
- References
- 69
- Citations by year
- 2026: 30 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 11
- FWCI
- 1.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Current Opinion in Neurobiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Edinburgh Research Explorer (University of Edinburgh) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust (102857/Z/13/Z)
- Royal Society (102857/Z/13/Z)
- Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851
- European Commission (HORIZON2020)
- Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain
- Directorate for Biological Sciences
- Medical Research Council (MR/X00743X/1)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/T007907/1)
- H2020 European Research Council (866386)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Physiological and biochemical adaptations
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
- Keywords
- brain energy metabolism, energy reallocation, food shortages, energy conservation, energy-saving mechanisms, animal survival
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Brain, Head
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