The decentralized data storage project Filecoin (FIL) is painting its image in green, through the launch of a dashboard measuring its electricity consumption. This initiative could inspire other projects accused, rightly or wrongly, of being polluting, including…Bitcoin.
Filecoin and energy consumption: a green dashboard
Filecoin green has launched an open-source dashboard that maps the electricity used by Filecoin to demonstrate its commitment to greening the project, including its commitment to renewable energy.
Filecoin recognizes that decentralized data storage and retrieval is energy intensive, as are similar Web 2.0 protocols like AWS :
“Using Filecoin is always going to consume a fair amount of energy. So we want to set up our ecosystem to demand renewable energy. This should make us a player in the energy markets, and act as a strategic corner to push green power grids.”
Filecoin thus wants to measure the energy consumption of its blockchain and to validate the renewable nature of an energy only if it has been verified by renewable energy certificates (RECs).
Filecoin Green creator Alan Ransil believes the environmental impact measurement solution could be used for other projects like Bitcoin (BTC):
“If bitcoin miners are interested, they could set up a database where their energy consumption and proof of renewable energy use is recorded.”
Crypto projects and energy transparency: Filecoin and Solana
Filecoin isn’t the only project trying to demonstrate its environmental concerns, as the cryptosphere is the target of much criticism – justified or unjustified – about the polluting nature of crypto projects.
Solana (SOL) is also playing the transparency card, publishing a report on the energy consumption of its blockchain. The project goes so far as to compare the consumption of a transaction on Solana to that of an iPhone 13. A transaction would require 24 times less energy than Apple’s flagship.
The energy transparency of blockchains can only be beneficial, especially for a technology that advocates transparency of the data it records. An energy dashboard is not only useful for crypto projects, but also for NFTs projects that are also accused of being CO2 factories.
