A Study on the Issue of Blockchain’s Energy Consumption
Abstract
Blockchain technology is one of the biggest innovative technology that has been developed and has potential usage in fields of education, business and industries. Since the creation of bitcoins, blockchain has emerged as a means for storing digital information without the intervention of any third parties. However, now, it is used for various other applications than just being a simple distributed ledger. With time, it has imposed a larger impact on different fields of economy and has gained popularity for its immutability. But, there are some issues faced by blockchain. One of such issues is the energy consumption. Blockchains are found to consume exorbitant amount of energy because of the algorithm followed for its creation. This paper explores the blockchain technology and the impacts of energy consumption due to the technology used.
Keywords
Blockchain Proof of work Energy consumptionReferences
- 1.Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system by Satoshi Nakamoto. Available online: https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf
- 2.de Vries, A.: Bitcoin energy consumption index. Digiconomist (2014). Available Online: https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
- 3.Aras, S.T., Kulkarni, V.: Blockchain and its applications: a detailed survey. Int. J. Comput. Appl. 0975–8887 (2017)Google Scholar
- 4.Zheng, Z., Xie, S., Dai, H.-N., Chen, X., Wang, H.: Blockchain challenges and opportunities: a survey (2018)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- 5.Khan, I.: What is blockchain technology? A step-by-step guide for beginners. Blockgeeks (2016). Available Online: https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-blockchain-technology
- 6.Huckle, S.: Bitcoins energy consumption is a concern but it may be a price worth paying; 7 Nov 2018. Available Online: http://theconversation.com/bitcoins-high-energy-consumption-is-a-concern-but-it-may-be-a-price-worth-paying-106282
- 7.Hern, A.: Bitcoin mining consumes more electricity a year than Ireland. 27 Nov 2017. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/nov/27/bitcoin-mining-consumes-electricity-ireland
- 8.Hern, A.: Energy cost of mining more than twice that of copper or gold. The Guardian; 5 Nov 2018. Available online: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/05/energy-cost-of-mining-bitcoin-more-than-twice-that-of-copper-or-gold
- 9.Flipo, F.: The bitcoin and blockchain: energy hogs. 17 May 2017. Available online: https://theconversation.com/the-bitcoin-and-blockchain-energy-hogs-77761
- 10.Massessi, D.: Public versus private blockchain in a nutshell. Medium. 12 Dec 2018. Available online: https://medium.com/coinmonks/public-vs-private-blockchain-in-a-nutshell-c9fe284fa39f
- 11.Bitcoinmining (2010). Available online: https://www.bitcoinmining.com
- 12.Wong, J.I., Simon, J.: Photos: inside one of the world’s largest bitcoin mines. 18 Aug 2017. Available online: https://qz.com/1055126/photos-china-has-one-of-worlds-largest-bitcoin-mines
- 13.Copeland, T.: How will Bitcoin solve its energy consumption problem? Newsbtc; 21 May 2018. Available online: https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/05/21/will-bitcoin-solve-energy-consumption-problem
- 14.Acheson, N.: What is Bitcoins lightning network; Coindes; 21 March 2018. Available Online: https://www.coindesk.com/information/what-is-the-lightning-network
- 15.Lisk Academy; Proof of Stake. Lisk (2018). Available online: https://lisk.io/academy/blockchain-basics/how-does-blockchain-work/proof-of-stake
- 16.Proof-of-Stake. Wikipedia; Available online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof- of-stake
- 17.Ray, S.: What is delegated proof-of-stake, 15 April 2018. Available Online: https://hackernoon.com/what-is-delegated-proof-of-stake-897a2f0558f9
- 18.Matthews, K.: 4 ways to counter blockchain’s energy consumption pitfall; 18 April 2019. Available online: https://www.greenbiz.com/article/4-ways-counter-blockchains-energy-consumption-pitfall
- 19.Quora; Is Bitcoins energy consumption a problem for the world? 2018. Available Online: https://www.quora.com
- 20.Zhao, H.: Bitcoin and blockchain consume an exorbitant amount of energy, Feb 2018. Available online: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/bitcoin-blockchain-consumes-a-lot-of-energy-engineers-changing-that.html
- 21.Chebbo, M.: Powering a sustainable future: How blockchain can solve bitcoins energy consumption crisis. Itproportal; 01 June 2018. Available On-line: https://www.itproportal.com/features/powering-a-sustainable-future-how-blockchain-can-solve-bitcoins-energy-consumption-crisis
- 22.Voshmgir, S.: Blockchain and Sustainability. Medium; 11 Aug 2018Google Scholar
- 23.Baraniuk, C.: Microgrids and the Blockchain are powering our energy future. Wired; 12 Oct 2017. Available online: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/microgrids-wired-energy