Solana Network Can Run For An Hour On Less Energy Than Is Required For A Single Bitcoin Transaction: Report – Solana (SOL/USD)

In their latest report, based on a “novel dataset and analysis” by Othersphere, led by Robert Murphy, they conducted a carbon assessment.

Some highlights of this report include:

The assessment of the overall carbon footprint of the network is 3,412 tons of CO2 per year, up 26% from 2,707 tons of CO2 per year in March 2022.

• The overall carbon footprint is measured by adding emissions due to power consumption (1,772 tons CO2 per year) with emissions due to hardware production, also known as e-waste (1,639 tons CO2 per year).
• The primary reasons for the changes are:
  • The incorporation of emissions due to hardware production (e-waste) into the energy use report, which added 1,639 tons of CO2 per year.
  • Decreased emissions, resulting from a reduction in the estimated power consumption per validator node, which fell 48 percent from 984W to 509W per validator node.
  • Inclusion of data center-specific renewable energy utilization, which lowered average network carbon intensity by roughly 10% from 198 to 180 g of CO2 per KWh.

The report also states: “While there are always improvements to be made, when it comes to emissions reduction, it’s important to note that Solana remains an incredibly energy-efficient blockchain and that the network is carbon neutral due through the Foundation’s purchase of offsets. This analysis found that running the entire Solana network for an hour uses less energy than a single Bitcoin transaction.”

The Solana Foundation stated in the report that they continue to look for ways to improve their energy efficiency, including:

• The use of compressed NFTs, which make it possible to mint 8 to 10 NFTs in a single transaction.
• Doubling of Transaction Size, which increases the per-block efficiency of the chain and enables the network to accomplish more in a single transaction for a minimal increase in computing power. 

The last word

If we hope to reach a mainstream buying audience, the crypto world needs to address concerns about carbon footprint. We can speculate all we like about whether refrigerators or washing machines use more energy – that isn’t really the point. The point is the bull run that we enjoyed for nearly two years relies on mainstream investment, and mainstream investors want environmental impact addressed. 

Addressing the environmental concerns of crypto, as projects like Solana seek to do, is future-proofing against public opinion. Buyers want carbon-neutral, and, ultimately, they will have it. Bitcoin will never change its consensus mechanism, but there are some Bitcoin supporters who have suggested that Bitcoin mining can become carbon negative. Environmental Analyst Daniel Batten suggested Bitcoin mining can become carbon negative by Q4 of 2024 by “burning previously vented methane.”