Is Ethereum really 99% more energy efficient now?
Back in Aug/Sept, we wrote about the Ethereum 'Merge,' a lot.
It was one of the biggest events in Web3 history; and it was claimed that it would reduce energy consumption on the Ethereum network, by 99%+.
A few months later, we can now whip out our bullshit detectors, and assess if those claims were achieved.
But first, let's do a quick recap on 'The Merge.'
Back when Ethereum was conceptualized in 2014, Proof-of-Work (PoW) was the normal and generally accepted way of verifying transactions on the blockchain.
...problem was, it required massive amounts of computing power (and with a ton of energy).
Then some big brains came up with the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) concept.
Instead of solving ridiculously difficult math problems (which is the case in PoW), in PoS, any computer that wants to get paid to run transactions on a blockchain simply has to lock up some amount of coins (at least 32 ETH, to be specific).
This meant low powered computing devices could join the party, and start processing transactions, in return for sweet sweet cash.
If we lost you with that explanation, don't stress, the point is: PoS requires less computing power and therefore less energy.
Right! So three months after Ethereum moved from PoW to PoS through The Merge, has it really reduced the energy consumption of ETH by 99%+?
Apparently yes!
A new report shows that, assuming all miners used the most energy-efficient mining machines available, Ethereum’s PoW power consumption would be around 418 MW.
Given most miners probably weren't using the most energy-efficient machines, more realistic estimates suggest ETH's PoW power consumption was at about 2.23 GW (which is enough to power about 2M houses).
And now, after The Merge update, it's down to 675 kW, at worst.
(36 kW at best).
Which is a reduction of somewhere between 99.84% to 99.99%.
Things like this remind us that this technology is still really new - and there is so much more innovation to come.
Happy Friday, everyone!
