Solana, the blockchain platform for hosting decentralized and scalable apps just issued a report about the blockchain’s energy use in the month of September.
The powerful blockchain capable of processing thousands of transactions per second – has taken as a goal to keep track of the company’s energy emissions. Solana Foundation started the blockchain’s energy use in 2021 – in order to
The third edition of the Solana Foundation’s energy impact report was released today. The report stated that the network’s overall emissions increased by around 26% during the last six months.
The entire carbon footprint of the network is estimated to be 3,412 tonnes of CO2 per year, up 26 percent from 2,707 tonnes of CO2 per year in March 2022.
Solana Foundation states that the report only indicated a rise in energy consumption due to the inclusion of emissions from hardware manufacturing (e-waste) in the energy consumption report, which contributed 1,639 tonnes of CO2 each year.
Energy Consumption Measures By Solana
On the other hand, Solana Foundation appears to be doing its best to make the blockchain as sustainable as possible.
The blockchain also released that they are implementing a way to expect reduced emissions – as a result of a 48 percent reduction in anticipated power usage per validator node, from 984W to 509W per validator node.
Also, Solana reported improved accuracy results – by incorporating data center-specific renewable energy consumption, which reduced average network carbon intensity by around 10%.
“While there are always improvements to be made when it comes to emissions reduction,” Solana Foundation wrote in the report. “It’s important to note that Solana remains an incredibly energy efficient blockchain and that the network is carbon neutral due through the Foundation’s purchase of offsets. “
Why Sustainability is Important For Blockchains
Cryptocurrencies becoming more self-sustainable is not only great news for the environment but also a key point in blockchains. Fortunately, Solana is among the blockchain companies that look to become as energy-friendly as possible.
In general, large companies prefer to do partnerships with blockchains that are not egregiously energy-expensive.
For example, on September 13th – the coffee house chain Starbucks announced that they closed a partnership with Polygon in order to launch an exclusive line of NFTs. Starbucks made it clear that one of the biggest reasons it decided to go with Polygon was due to the blockchain’s low emissions.
Secondly, as local governments expand the idea of officially regulating cryptocurrency – low energy emissions will likely be a requirement these regulators will demand.
