Solana’s Energy Use Report Reveals Efficiency

Solana, a high-performance blockchain designed for energy efficiency, recently published its Energy Use Report which detailed how its design decisions for its blockchain protocol have created an impact on the crypto industry.

According to the report, the primary illustration for how Solana’s efficiency has created a lasting impact for the crypto industry can be compared with how much less energy a single transaction on the Solana blockchain requires. The report states that a Solana transaction requires 1,837 J, which for joules, an international standard unit for measuring the amount of energy transferred or dissipated). At 1,837 J per transaction, a Solana transaction costs less than two Google searches, and about 24 times less energy than charging the latest iPhone.

Research for the Solana Foundation’s latest energy report was led by Robert Murphy, an energy and climate advisor. Murphy helped frame the research’s parameters based on existing usage data, analyzing the environmental impact of transactions done on Solana’s global state machine.

Compared to other blockchains such as Ethereum and Bitcoin, Solana’s energy usage comes across as a fractional equivalent of the top two blockchains. Solana’s ratio to Bitcoin energy usage is at 1 : 3.8 million, while it’s ratio to Ethereum is at 1 : 377,147.

Solana’s dynamic analysis was presented in the report, and the foundation claims that this can be rescaled and recalculated as its network grows over time. Current network data rates the total cost of transactions based on an annualized average for the Solana network which runs with 1,196 validator nodes is estimated at 3,186,000 kWh per year, which is the equivalent usage from 986 households in the U.S.

“As a proof of stake network, the security of the network is not dependent on energy usage. On Solana, there is no need for energy-intensive mining, meaning the network is extremely environmentally efficient. And thanks to a number of key technical innovations, like proof of history and parallel processing, activities on Solana take much less energy than you might think.” Solana states in the report.

According to the Solana Foundation, they are committed to further reducing the Solana ecosystem’s environmental impact, even with the already efficient numbers based on the report. The foundation says that it will introduce a program within the year that would help Solana’s validator network achieve carbon neutrality and offset its ecosystem’s carbon footprint.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.