The Solana network has an annual energy consumption of 3,18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), the same as the average consumption of about 980 homes in the United States.
The energy consumption of the networks blockchain has been one of the main problems currently faced by cryptocurrencies, , the Bitcoin y Ethereum, the two largest and most important digital currencies in the industry by capitalization, which are based on a proof-of-work consensus protocol or Proof of WorkPoW). Although different researchers and experts have shown that the energy consumption of these cryptoassets is much lower than that of the traditional banking system and other industries, there are still several concerns around the energy demand of these networks, especially considering their constant and exponential growth. However, Solana, a cryptocurrency focused on high performance and scalability, offers an efficient and sustainable solution to concerns about the energy consumption of blockchain networks.
In a report Recently published, the Solana Foundation compared the energy consumption of the scalable cryptocurrency with Internet searches, the use of mobile phones such as iPhone, and transactions in Bitcoin and Ethereum. According to the Foundation, a transaction with Solana (SOL) consumes less energy than 2 Internet searches through the Google browser. Likewise, the energy consumption of carrying out and processing a transaction on the Solana network is 24 times less than the consumption produced by charging a mobile phone y 3,8 million times to execute a transaction in Bitcoin. Regarding Ethereum, the report indicates that the consumption of a transaction in Solana is 377 thousand times less than one in ETH.
According to data collected by the Foundation, a transaction on Solana consumes 1.080 joules (J) of energy, while on Bitcoin and Ethereum, a transaction consumes 6.995.592.000 J and 692.820.000 J, respectively.
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Solana and Proof of History
The Solana Foundation highlights the design of the network, based on a combination of protocols proof of stake (PoS) y Proof of History (PoH), as one of the best and most efficient blockchain solutions currently, which allows taking advantage of the potential of the blockchain to offer high performance, scalability, speed and usability when carrying out transactions, without demanding high energy consumption for its sustainability and operation.
On average, The Solana network has an annual energy consumption of 3,18 million kilowatt-hours (kWh), the same as the average consumption of about 980 households in the United States, the Foundation indicated.
High performance and efficiency
The Solana Foundation report is focused on exploring the economic and energy impact of network scalability. The Solana blockchain was designed to offer high performance in its operations, which translates into a high level of energy efficiency. As a blockchain network, Solana is capable of processing transactions quickly and reliably, while allowing affordable costs compared to other existing blockchains.
By transactions, Solana refers to all operations that are executed on its blockchain, whether to send or receive value, buy or sell from a NFT, carry out an exchange with other assets, among others.
Constant evaluation
The Solana Foundation will carry out constant and periodic reviews of the energy consumption of the network. Since last May, which reported on the hiring of energy and climate advisor Robert Murphy, the Foundation has been focused on framing the environmental impact of transactions made through this blockchain network.
“The Solana Foundation will continue to publish regular reports on Solana's energy use and take measures to minimize the environmental impact of the ecosystem.”
By using a combination of the PoS and PoH consensus protocols, Solana does not depend on energy usage for its operation and sustainability. Unlike Bitcoin and the current Ethereum network, Solana does not use miners to mine its blocks on the chain or confirm its transactions; This allows the network to be extremely efficient from an environmental point of view, the Foundation explained.
Despite the low energy consumption, the Solana Foundation committed to continuing to design solutions and programs that allow it to further reduce the energy expenditure of its blockchain network. By the end of the year, the Foundation will launch an energy efficiency program to make all nodes in the network completely carbon neutral. To date, Solana has 1.196 active validation nodes and has processed an estimated 20.000.000 transactions.
More than $57.000 million in capitalization
The use of Solana has become popular in recent months thanks to its high level of scalability and security, which is why it has become one of the preferred networks to develop and interact with next generation applications, protocols DeFi and NFTs.
Currently, Solana is the fifth most important cryptocurrency in the industry, with a capitalization of 61.500 million at the time of this edition. The price of SOL reached a historical maximum price on November 6, when it exceeded $259 per unit. However, it is currently trading close to $202.
Continue reading: Solana breaks after reaching its maximum TPS due to high demand and network usage
