Cambridge Study: Ethereum uses 28x less energy than American Express
3 min readThe world’s second largest crypto protocol, the Ethereum network, uses 28 times less energy than American Express, according to a recent report from the University of Cambridge.
The report compares the annual energy consumption of the smart contract-powered blockchain service with that of several traditional financial and corporate companies.
According to the Cambridge Blockchain Network Sustainability Index Report, Ethereum’s annual energy consumption is 28 times lower at 7 gigawatts per hour (GWh). from American Express, which consumes 202.73 GWh. It is also 50 times less than the energy consumption of Deutsche Bank, which uses 437 GWh.
NEWS:
American Express Uses 28x More Energy Than Ethereum Says Cambridge. pic.twitter.com/sFI3ElyluL
— BuzzBeatHQ (@mely_buzz) December 12, 2023
Putting assets under management (AUM) side by side, Deutsche Bank controls more than 820 billion USD in assets, while Ethereum both on-chain and in decentralized finance Ecosystem (DeFi) has over 350 million dollars.
This shows that Deutsche Bank uses 25 times more energy per dollar under management than the Ethereum blockchain network.
The Ethereum network also proves to be more energy efficient than the streaming service Netflix, which consumes 123 GWh annually. It is also more than 30 times less energy intensive than the Burj Khalifa, which requires a massive 243.4 GWh to power its skyscraper.
Additionally, the Cambridge report shows that the 7 GWh of energy required by the smart contract network can only power its campus for 19 days. Other household appliances, such as air conditioning systems, are also taken into account in connection with energy consumption.
The report further reveals that the energy demand of the decentralized finance ecosystem is equivalent to the annual consumption of 676 air conditioners and can meet the electricity needs of 1,969 average households.
In addition, the output of 7 GWh would only be exhausted by a Tesla Cybertruck, which covers a total distance of 17.1 million.
Ethereum’s high efficiency is a consequence of moving away from the secure but slow and energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm.
After switching from a PoW to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism earlier this year, validating transactions and creating new Ether assets no longer depends on a distributed network of miners competing for first place .
Instead, the Ethereum network requires validators to lock at least 32 Ether coins in order to verify transactions on the network.< /span>
Each validator is selected and only needs software on their computer to run the network optimally.
Supra is making the jump to Ethereum
As the central hub for everything DeFi-related, the Ethereum network is a big draw for the more than 2,000 decentralized applications (dApps) who work in its ecosystem.
So far, the decentralized open source protocol holds a 19% market share in the crypto market and has the potential to be a strong contender in the near future to become the crypto throne.
This potential is further enhanced by the recent launch of the decentralized service Verifiable Random Function (dVRF) on the Ethereum mainnet by the SupraOracles dApp.
The dVRF enables blockchain protocols to securely access real-world information authenticated by a verified pool of data providers.
⚡ @SupraOracles is thrilled to announce that we've successfully launched our decentralized Verifiable Random Function (dVRF) service on the #Ethereum Mainnet 🎉
This is a huge step forward for our team 👣 pic.twitter.com/18mipr5pzn
— Supra (@SUPRA_Labs) December 12, 2023
The SupraOracles network joins a growing pool of decentralized oracle networks (DONs) that help blockchain services stay informed about what’s happening outside themselves.
