Cambridge: Ethereum Is More Energy Efficient Than Solana

An exclusive study conducted by the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance at the University of Cambridge has just redefined the environmental hierarchy of crypto blockchains. It indeed demonstrates that Ethereum significantly outperforms Solana in terms of energy intensity relative to its market value. A true revolution for the crypto ecosystem! Figures, methodology, and full analysis in the following paragraphs.

An annual electricity consumption of 7.87 GWh for Ethereum according to Cambridge

The Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance has just published a report titled “Ethereum After the Merge – A Change in Power“. The document indicates that the overall annual electricity consumption of Ethereum is now about 7.87 gigawatt-hours (GWh). This corresponds to a continuous power demand of barely 0.90 megawatts (MW). Which keeps the crypto network more than 99.9% below its initial benchmark line of 2.4 gigawatts (GW).

To arrive at these precise data, Cambridge researchers audited the overall physical structure of the Ethereum network using a bottom-up approach. More concretely, they directly tested the electrical consumption of 20 client software combinations used by nodes on two types of hardware.

Results:

• A typical residential setup consumes a median value of 18 watts.
• A professional workstation climbs to 153 watts.

Weighting these results by the actual node distribution, Cambridge obtains an average consumption of about 105 watts per node.

The study lists 8,522 identifiable full nodes:

• 36% operate on residential connections;
• 64% in cloud or enterprise infrastructures.

The United States hosts 31% of these nodes, followed by Germany (16%), Finland (8%) and France (6%). These four countries alone therefore concentrate nearly 62% of the node network measured by Cambridge.

Ethereum outperforms Solana in terms of energy intensity

Certainly, Ethereum uses more electricity than most small PoS networks due to the vastness of its validator set. When adjusting electricity consumption to market value, Ethereum’s efficiency becomes indisputable, however.

According to the University of Cambridge’s study report, the crypto network consumes only 33 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for every million dollars of market capitalization. It thus ranks as the world’s second most efficient blockchain behind BNB Chain.

Conversely, Solana records the highest absolute consumption among the PoS networks studied with about 13.48 GWh per year. Its energy intensity peaks at 283 kWh per million dollars of market capitalization.

This ratio demonstrates that Solana is about 8.5 times more energy-consuming than Ethereum to secure an equivalent economic value. Enough to sweep away the received idea that Solana’s throughput performance would guarantee greater efficiency than Ethereum’s historic architecture.

All the crypto networks included in the Cambridge comparison consume about 38 GWh cumulatively over the studied period. Other blockchains fall between 3.6 and 5.1 GWh. Such is notably the case for:

• NEAR;
• Tron;
• TON.

Cardano and BNB Chain remain below the gigawatt hour mark.

Cambridge however specifies an important point: the study does not claim that Ethereum consumes the least electricity in absolute value.

Ethereum: a carbon footprint now linked to the electricity mix

Ethereum’s annual carbon footprint rises to only 2.37 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (ktCO₂e). This represents a drastic reduction of 99.98% compared to the Proof-of-Work era. The network’s climate impact now equates to the annual carbon footprint of 900 British households.

Still according to studies by Cambridge researchers, 39.4% of the electricity consumed by the Ethereum network comes from renewable sources and 17% from nuclear. This yields a total of 56.4% low-carbon origin. The remaining 43.6% comes from fossil fuels, with natural gas alone representing 27.7% of the mix.

Alexander Neumüller, research lead of Cambridge’s energy program, summarizes this shift in one sentence:

Electricity is no longer the price of security under PoS.

Cambridge nevertheless specifies an important point: no per-transaction estimate has been made. The reason is that about 92% of Ethereum ecosystem transactions are now settled on layer 2 networks. Which renders the calculation incomplete.

Another clarification: electricity no longer constitutes the adjustment variable of security cost. The residual ecological footprint therefore depends exclusively on the decarbonization of national electricity networks hosting the nodes. Since the energy transition is progressing in the main host countries, Ethereum’s overall environmental footprint is structurally destined to continuously decrease over the coming years.

Ethereum after The Merge: a transformation acknowledged, but nuanced

The 15 September 2022 Merge remains undoubtedly the turning point of this story. By definitively abandoning Proof-of-Work, the Ethereum network accomplished an unprecedented technical feat: modifying its engine mid-flight.

The Cambridge study demonstrates that this transition contracted Ethereum’s power demand by 3.5 orders of magnitude.

Decryption: if Ethereum’s electricity consumption before the upgrade was comparable to the height of the Statue of Liberty, the post-Merge network now represents only a simple “golf ball placed at its base.” A striking metaphor illustrating the immediate collapse of energy needs!

That’s not all! By replacing miners with validators staking Ether, Ethereum also dropped its continuous power demand from 2.4 gigawatts to 0.90 megawatts. A decrease exceeding 99.9%. This structural change explains why Ethereum’s energy consumption remains today a favored comparison topic against other proof-of-stake networks.

According to University of Cambridge researchers, a light verification could reduce hardware needs for future nodes. However, broader network participation could offset these gains. The report thus treats future demand as an unknown rather than an acquired downward trajectory.

In any case, the Cambridge study confirms Ethereum’s ecological success after its technological mutation. By surpassing Solana in energy intensity, the crypto network demonstrates its ability to combine economic power and environmental responsibility. Enough to consolidate its hegemony with institutional investors!