Science&Tech Ethereum cuts energy consumption by 99.99 percent Posted on May 1, 2023 2 min read Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Google+ Ethereum’s energy consumption has dropped by as much as 99.99 percent, according to The New Scientist website. This happened after the update called ”the Merge”. With this update, a new system called “proof of stake“ has been applied, which has replaced the previous “proof of work”. The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has published extensive data on Ethereum’s energy consumption over the past four years and has now released similar data for Ethereum. The consumption of Ethereum and Bitcoin has increased every year since its launch in 2015. Ethereum consumed 16.4 terawatt hours in 2021, while on september 14, 2022, it had already consumed 17.6 TWh and was on track to end the year at 21.4 TWh. CCAF now estimates that Ethereum will consume only 6.6 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, which is equivalent to about 2,000 typical homes in the UK. Ethereum’s previous consumption from launch to Merge was 58.3 TWh. This is comparable to the annual electricity consumption of Switzerland. The experiment, according to Alexander Neumüller of the University of Cambridge, has been a technological success and has achieved a “mind-boggling reduction” in electricity consumption. Some analysis has suggested that while Ethereum’s energy consumption has dropped, the hardware that was responsible for it is now being used for other purposes.
