New Thematic Report: Energy Efficiency of Blockchain Technologies

The EU Blockchain Observatory and Forum has just published a new thematic report.

The purpose of this report is to present an updated view of the aspects related to the energy efficiency of blockchain technologies. The topic of energy consumption of blockchains, and especially of the Bitcoin blockchain has recently triggered a lot of discussion and a debate has started on the topic  of making Bitcoin a sustainable ecosystem.

With regards to the energy efficiency of blockchain technologies, the thematic report presents the various approaches and methodologies that address the challenge of estimating the energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchains. It should be mentioned that although the report is focusing upon the whole spectrum of consensus mechanisms, due to the high energy consumption of Bitcoin blockchain, only methodologies that analyse the energy consumption of the Bitcoin are available and, thus, covered in the report.

With regards to the energy efficiency of blockchain technologies, the thematic report presents the various approaches  and methodologies that address the challenge of estimating the energy consumption of the Bitcoin blockchains. Although the report is focusing upon the whole spectrum of consensus mechanisms, due to the high energy consumption of Bitcoin blockchain, only methodologies that analyse the energy consumption of the Bitcoin are available and  thus, covered by the report.

Apart from the various diverse applications of blockchain technologies across several sectors ranging  from finance and supply chain to the pharmaceutical  and energy sectors, cryptocurrencies on the various blockchains are constantly under the spotlight. To also address  the topic of cryptocurrencies, the report also deals with the topic of energy efficiency of the ICT infrastructure that is used for cryptocurrency mining.

From the analysis performed within the report to the topics related to the energy efficiency of blockchain technology, a set of recommendations were delivered. On the energy efficiency side, at the EU level, the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure needs to consider the energy consumption (and efficiency) of blockchain when deciding on the underlying technology for developing the necessary digital infrastructure. 

Another aspect closely related to energy efficiency is the scalability and performance of blockchain solutions. Therefore, it is recommended that energy efficiency-related issues need always to be treated along with scalability and performance requirements of the blockchain-based solution under evaluation.

Moreover, to compensate the excess energy consumption especially of Proof-of-Work blockchains, it is important to make sure that renewable energy is used to the maximum possible extent to cover the demand of energy of blockchain-based solutions.

Read more and download the Energy Efficiency of Blockchain technologies report from our website!