• CCRI investigated proof-of-stake blockchains.
• Cardano uses the least amount of energy per node, while Solana uses the least amount of energy per transaction.

For years, the use of energy by various crypto blockchains has been a source of contention, and now a research firm has attempted to measure the exact disparities in consumption by several of the most popular networks.

According to a paper by Ulrich Gallersdörfer, Lena Klaaßen, and Christian Stoll of the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute, Polkadot has the lowest overall electricity consumption and total carbon emissions per year among the six so-called proof-of-stake blockchains analysed. According to the analysis, Cardano uses the least amount of energy per node each year, and Solana uses the least amount of electricity every transaction. Ava Labs, which is affiliated with the Avalanche blockchain, one of the ones analysed, commissioned the paper.

The total value locked in financial apps on each platform is $18,454 per kilowatt-hour for Avalanche, $4,395 for Solana, and $19.18 for Polkadot, according to the research, which used DeFiLlama data from February 1.

Proof of Work systems, like the one that underpins Bitcoin, demand processing power to solve mining puzzles in order to protect the network, whereas Proof of Stake systems require validators to lock in cash for a set length of time in order to propose or vote on new blocks. Ethereum also uses Proof of Work, albeit it is in the process of being upgraded to Proof of Stake.

Elon Musk, Bank of America Corp. academics, and others have expressed alarm about Bitcoin’s energy use, and it’s a concern even for countries that host miners. According to the CCRI research, Proof of Stake networks require less than 0.001% of the Bitcoin network.

The CCRI report goes further, also asserting that the Proof of Stake networks studied use little enough energy that other factors should be given more attention when evaluating them. “For practitioners selecting a PoS blockchain protocol, other factors such as decentralization, network throughput or functionality (e.g., smart contracts) should increase in relevance as decision criteria,” the report said.