6 ms·

Wait, the Ethereum blockchain alone was consuming 0.5% of the world's total energy?

isoprophlex 4y ago
Completely indefensible in a world beset with global warming and energy shortages
Barrin92 4y ago
usual comparison was that the energy consumption is comparable to nations like the Netherlands or Finland, so seems about right.
- ollifi 4y ago
  There is lot of talk and debate about building wind, nuclear doing the green transition etc. in Finland. I guess like in every country. Somehow it makes me sad that group of open source developers could do more today than we ever can to help the planet no matter how much we scale back. Although they built the hell machine in the first place, so maybe better if they would not have ever done anything.
  - OJFord 4y ago
    Well, in that perspective 'green production' seems like the right thing to be talking about (vs. cutting usage, say) - if you over-produce you can always export, selling 'green' energy to a country that might otherwise have been buying 'brown'.
mailbag 4y ago
0.5% of the world’s electricity.
mrpopo 4y ago
Total electricity*. Which is still huge, I am not sure people realize that there are no more low-hanging fruits in the form of a technical feat that a small group of people can accomplish like this, without impacting people's lives.
- shafyy 4y ago
  It's weird to celebrate the electricity savings of Ethereum like this. It's good that it's less energy-intensive now, but it was that energy-intensive before because of Ethereum in the first place.
  - whatisweb3 4y ago
    This is how all tech works - trains, cars, power stations. We build things that are initially inefficient. We eventually transition to energy efficient tech. We celebrate. It’s rare the transition can reduce 99.95% of energy footprint the size of a country within a minute of activating the new tech.
    - Mordisquitos 4y ago
      The difference is that PoW is not "inefficient". Rather, it is intrinsically wasteful by its very nature. Take an inefficient car for instance. There are diminishing returns in its utility after a certain point of energy use. On the other hand, there are no diminishing returns in PoW. The more energy you use, the more money you make.
      - whatisweb3 4y ago
        Sure? It was both an inefficient and wasteful mechanism to secure consensus. This is why developers have been actively researching and developing how to switch Eth to PoS for years.
      - deadfish 4y ago
        An electric heater runs current through a wire .. the waste product of doing so is heat. The more you 'waste' the more heat produced. I guess the more efficient version of the same thing would be the move to using heat pumps.
        anonymous_sorry 4y ago
        Electric heaters are the classic exception in energy efficiency calculations. The heat produced is only wasted in that it will eventually dissipate. But heat is exactly what you wanted when you turned the heater on, and so heaters are often described as 100% efficient. I guess with heat pumps this logic makes less sense. It is more efficient to move heat around than to generate it. Not quite sure how this relates to Proof of Work. People don't generally run mining rigs because they want to generate heat. The heat is almost always waste. I've always wondered if the economics of using CPUs in heaters to do something useful and generate heat would ever work out.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
worldsayshi 4y ago
I wonder if there is some very surprised power plant technicians out there right now scratching their heads because they didn't get the memo.
sph 4y ago
Wait until you hear how much of the world's total energy is wasted on ads (manufacturing, transmission, power usage) or spam email.
- kaba0 4y ago
  While I hate ads with a burning passion, they do affect multiple orders of more people than cryptos ever did, even if that effect is far from positive (but not blanket negative either).
- dmitriid 4y ago
  That's a good company for cryptocurrencies to be in, don't you think? Just as wasteful and useless.
- scambier 4y ago
  - "X is extremely wasteful" - "Wait until you hear how much Y is more wasteful" Ok?

Completely indefensible in a world beset with global warming and energy shortages

usual comparison was that the energy consumption is comparable to nations like the Netherlands or Finland, so seems about right.

ollifi 4y ago
There is lot of talk and debate about building wind, nuclear doing the green transition etc. in Finland. I guess like in every country. Somehow it makes me sad that group of open source developers could do more today than we ever can to help the planet no matter how much we scale back. Although they built the hell machine in the first place, so maybe better if they would not have ever done anything.
- OJFord 4y ago
  Well, in that perspective 'green production' seems like the right thing to be talking about (vs. cutting usage, say) - if you over-produce you can always export, selling 'green' energy to a country that might otherwise have been buying 'brown'.

mailbag 4y ago

0.5% of the world’s electricity.

mrpopo 4y ago

Total electricity*. Which is still huge, I am not sure people realize that there are no more low-hanging fruits in the form of a technical feat that a small group of people can accomplish like this, without impacting people's lives.

shafyy 4y ago
It's weird to celebrate the electricity savings of Ethereum like this. It's good that it's less energy-intensive now, but it was that energy-intensive before because of Ethereum in the first place.
- whatisweb3 4y ago
  This is how all tech works - trains, cars, power stations. We build things that are initially inefficient. We eventually transition to energy efficient tech. We celebrate. It’s rare the transition can reduce 99.95% of energy footprint the size of a country within a minute of activating the new tech.
  - Mordisquitos 4y ago
    The difference is that PoW is not "inefficient". Rather, it is intrinsically wasteful by its very nature. Take an inefficient car for instance. There are diminishing returns in its utility after a certain point of energy use. On the other hand, there are no diminishing returns in PoW. The more energy you use, the more money you make.
    - whatisweb3 4y ago
      Sure? It was both an inefficient and wasteful mechanism to secure consensus. This is why developers have been actively researching and developing how to switch Eth to PoS for years.
    - deadfish 4y ago
      An electric heater runs current through a wire .. the waste product of doing so is heat. The more you 'waste' the more heat produced. I guess the more efficient version of the same thing would be the move to using heat pumps.
      - anonymous_sorry 4y ago
        Electric heaters are the classic exception in energy efficiency calculations. The heat produced is only wasted in that it will eventually dissipate. But heat is exactly what you wanted when you turned the heater on, and so heaters are often described as 100% efficient. I guess with heat pumps this logic makes less sense. It is more efficient to move heat around than to generate it. Not quite sure how this relates to Proof of Work. People don't generally run mining rigs because they want to generate heat. The heat is almost always waste. I've always wondered if the economics of using CPUs in heaters to do something useful and generate heat would ever work out.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

worldsayshi 4y ago

I wonder if there is some very surprised power plant technicians out there right now scratching their heads because they didn't get the memo.

sph 4y ago

Wait until you hear how much of the world's total energy is wasted on ads (manufacturing, transmission, power usage) or spam email.

kaba0 4y ago
While I hate ads with a burning passion, they do affect multiple orders of more people than cryptos ever did, even if that effect is far from positive (but not blanket negative either).
dmitriid 4y ago
That's a good company for cryptocurrencies to be in, don't you think? Just as wasteful and useless.
scambier 4y ago
- "X is extremely wasteful" - "Wait until you hear how much Y is more wasteful" Ok?