Cambridge Study Shows on Energy Use After Major Upgrade

The world of blockchain keeps changing fast. A new report from university researchers has changed how people look at energy use in big networks like Ethereum and Solana. It shows that Ethereum now uses far less power for the value it holds compared to Solana. This news matters for anyone who cares about green crypto and long-term growth.

What the Report Found on Power Use

Researchers measured real power needs across many nodes. They found Ethereum now runs on just 7.87 gigawatt-hours of electricity each year. That equals a tiny 0.90 megawatts of steady demand. Before the big switch in 2022, the network used over 2.4 gigawatts. The drop is more than 99.9 percent.

They tested 20 different software setups on real hardware. Then they weighted the results by how nodes are spread around the world. The average node uses only 105 watts. There are 8,522 full nodes tracked, with the United States holding 31 percent, Germany 16 percent, Finland 8 percent, and France 6 percent.

Energy Intensity: The Real Comparison

Raw power numbers do not tell the full story. When researchers adjusted for market value, Ethereum looked very strong. It uses only 33 kilowatt-hours for every million dollars of market cap. That puts it second best among major networks, right behind BNB Chain.

Solana came out worst in this measure. It uses 283 kilowatt-hours per million dollars of market value. That makes Solana about 8.5 times more power-hungry than Ethereum for the same economic size. Even though Solana handles many transactions quickly, its energy cost per dollar secured is much higher.

Why Ethereum Wins on Efficiency

Ethereum has a large set of validators, so it uses more total power than smaller proof-of-stake chains. Yet the value it protects is huge. This makes its energy intensity very low. Solana, by contrast, shows the highest total use among the proof-of-stake networks studied, at 13.48 gigawatt-hours per year.

All networks in the study together used about 38 gigawatt-hours. Cardano and BNB Chain stayed under one gigawatt-hour each. Ethereum’s carbon output is now just 2.37 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent. That matches the yearly footprint of roughly 900 UK homes.

Energy Sources and Future Outlook

More than half of Ethereum’s power comes from clean sources. Renewables supply 39.4 percent and nuclear adds 17 percent. The rest comes from fossil fuels, mostly natural gas. As countries where nodes sit move toward cleaner grids, Ethereum’s footprint will keep falling on its own.

The switch away from mining in 2022 cut power demand by 3.5 orders of magnitude. What once looked like the height of a tall statue now looks like a golf ball at its base. Electricity is no longer the main cost of keeping the network safe.

Key Takeaways for Crypto Users

This report proves that proof-of-stake can deliver strong security with very low energy. Ethereum shows it can protect massive value while staying efficient. Solana still needs to improve its energy intensity to match. Investors and builders now have clearer data when they choose which chain to support.

Future node software may need even less hardware. At the same time, more people joining could balance any savings. The overall trend points to lower impact over time as grids get greener.