Energy usage by various crypto blockchains has been a topic of controversy for years -- and now a research firm has tried to quantify the exact differences in consumption by some of the top networks.
Polkadot has the lowest total electricity consumption and total carbon emissions per year of the six so-called proof-of-stake blockchains studied, according to a report from Ulrich Gallersdörfer, Lena Klaaßen and Christian Stoll of the Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute. Cardano uses the lowest energy per node per year and Solana the lowest electricity per transaction, the report said. The report was commissioned by Ava Labs, which is associated with the Avalanche blockchain, one of those that was studied.