- Using the Solana blockchain to complete one transaction uses 24-times less power than charging a phone.
- A single transaction on the Solana platform consumes less power than two searches on Google.
According to reports by the Solana Foundation, completing one transaction on the blockchain uses less power than two searches on Google and 24-times less than phone charging.
Solana (SOL) is an open-source network that takes advantage of the permissionless nature of blockchain technology to offer decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. While publishing these updates, Solana trades at $202.2, with its 24hr trading volume standing at $2,268,058,897 (Coinmarketcap data).
A single transaction on the SOL network utilizes 1,836 joules or 0.00051 kWh of electricity. On the other hand, Google data shows that an average search uses 1,080 joules or 0.0003 kWh of power. More surprising, the Solana network consumes 3,187,000 kWh every year, equivalent to what 986 household uses in the US.
The Solana Foundation employed Robert Murphy early this year to create a report framing environmental effects by transactions completed on the Solana ecosystem. Keep in mind that Murphy was World Bank’s Energy specialist and founded Othersphere.
Meanwhile, the Solana platform has fewer validating nodes than Ethereum and Bitcoin. Solana has 1,196 nodes handling an average of 20 million transactions every year. According to reports, the Solana Foundation aims to decrease the network’s energy usage via a program implementation before the year-end. With that, the platform will alleviate the environmental footprint of the blockchain as it achieves carbon neutrality. However, we are not sure whether the blockchain will reduce emissions or buy carbon offsets.
Remember, Solana uses the Proof-of-Stake mechanism, thus using less energy than platforms using Proof-of-Work consensus (like Ethereum and Bitcoin). According to Statista, a single BTC transaction utilizes an average of 4,222,800,000 joules.
The network’s transaction technicality means that BTC does not consume a specific energy amount for each transaction. The blockchain uses a similar energy amount despite the number of transactions completed.
One ETH transaction consumed nearly 644,005,000 joules. Statista estimates Ethereum’s energy usage per transaction to equal thousands of transactions by VISA. Meanwhile, switching to Proof-of-Take will mean ETH2 uses about 99% less power than its current mainnet.
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