The current era is green. Most governments around the world have taken steps to mitigate carbon emissions. The environmental impact of blockchain operations has promoted the use of proof-of-work based distributed ledger technology (DLT). But does such technology really help reduce energy consumption?
The IOTA Foundation report
DLT energy consumption is one of the key points raised by IOTA in its recent report. The fact is that the energy consumption generated by distributed, proof-of-work (PoW) based registries has become a concern for environmentalists. According to data available on the Crypto New Flash site, the Bitcoin network consumes 204.5 TWh per year. This is equivalent to the total annual electricity consumption of South Africa.
IOTA 2.0 technology consumes a tiny amount of energy compared to Bitcoin. This is what the IOTA Foundation has tried to prove through the study it has conducted and the subsequent report of results. This is based on the results of a study that used the GoShimmer prototype node software to analyze IOTA V2 without a coordinator.
IOTA 2.0 technology: environmentally friendly
Studies show that powering a single transaction on IOTA 2.0 consumes only the equivalent of the energy needed to turn on a Christmas tree light in one second. To be more exact, 0.00678 joules is the energy required to process a 50 Mps data transaction. But this is provided that we remove the proof-of-work (PoW). With PoW, a single transaction requires 4,025 joules. The study was therefore able to confirm that IOTA V2 is environmentally friendly because it is energy efficient.
The same study also shows that such technology is still in its infancy. In order to achieve other environmentally beneficial goals, there is still room for improvement. For example, regular updates to GoShimmer could optimize its power consumption rates. Also with this in mind, other researchers are invited to conduct studies on the energy consumption of IOTA V2.
Tests on the coordinatorless IOTA V2 prototype show significant reductions in power consumption, based on a 50 Mps data transaction. By removing the PoW, the energy consumption can be reduced from 4,025 joules to 0.00678 joules. This is the new information that the IOTA research team put forward in their recent report.
