The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has led to more people looking into how much energy they use and how they affect the environment. Let’s delve into the environmental impact of well-known coins, looking at the technology behind them and the consequences they have on our planet.
Ethereum’s evolution toward sustainability
Ethereum has cemented its status as a significant player in the blockchain landscape, facilitating the rise of smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). However, its influential position comes with an environmental cost. Ethereum recognized this issue and transitioned from the energy-hungry proof of work (PoW) to the greener proof of stake (PoS) system through the Ethereum Merge in September 2022.
According to Ethereum, its annualized electricity consumption plummeted from a staggering 2,565 MW to a mere 0.0026 TWh, making it virtually unrecognizable in energy consumption. The shift in consensus mechanism also led to a substantial reduction in carbon emissions, with the annual footprint dwindling to 870 tonnes of CO2e.
Putting Ethereum’s environmental impact into perspective
To contextualize Ethereum’s environmental footprint, it’s worth comparing its energy use to other high-consumption sectors. According to data on the Ethereum website, in 2023, Ethereum’s power use of 0.0026 TWh was dwarfed by energy-intensive industries such as data centers (200 TWh/yr) and gold mining (131 TWh/yr). Ethereum’s PoS system even consumed less energy than gaming in the US (34 TWh/yr) and popular services like Netflix (0.451 TWh/yr) and PayPal (0.26 TWh/yr).
Ethereum’s transition to PoS and the resulting decrease to a carbon footpri
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Author: Brenda Mary
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