The environmental impact of decentralized technology

The twenty-first century has witnessed the emergence of unique technologies that greatly simplify people’s lives. Innovations are designed to solve not only the topical problems of each specific industry and individual but also serve as a tool for overcoming regional and global vulnerabilities. Perhaps one of the most pressing issues is the environmental challenge to the modern world. That is why today one of the most urgent tasks is the development and creation of eco-technology that would allow to overcome environmental pollution, avoid littering and prevent excessive consumption of resources of the planet Earth.

However, in pursuit of creating fundamentally new developments and technologies, the manufacturer, to put it mildly, overlooks the environmental side of the issue and focuses only on the realization of his idea, its mass distribution and making a profit. Among the latest technologies of our day is the blockchain with its main attractive advantages like transparency, security, and reliability. The technology is an excellent basis for any services where users may worry about possible fraud or the safety of their data, like micropayments, banking, logistics, law, medicine, and some others. You would think, why would there be a problem, and what it has to do with the environmental issue? But the thing is that the majority of the modern blockchain platforms have a high electricity consumption. Thus, the well-known Bitcoin (BTC) according to some reports, consumes more energy than Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland or Switzerland. Its consumption varies but in general, has an average 65 TWh per year which roughly translates to 0.25 percent of the world’s entire electricity consumption. This number in conjunction with the circulation of other cryptocurrencies exacerbates the already difficult environmental situation in the world. The enormous amount of energy consumption translates into a significant carbon footprint that mankind has enough already.

Most of the problems related to the blockchain technology are due to its novelty and outdated platforms, which, despite being pioneers in this industry, exhibit many flaws and need alterations. Among the shortcomings of many platforms, in addition to their high power consumption, are low transaction speed, small volume, high fees. In turn, the recently released blockchain platform Credits has already launched its mainnet and can solve the problems mentioned above. This platform is primarily characterized by its high transaction speed, which allows providing up to 1 million transactions per second, each of is processed around 0.1 of a second. Another advantage is its low commissions, amounting to about 0.001 USD. Now returning to the main issue of the energy consumption, Credits, unlike other blockchain platforms, consumes 7,000 times less energy per year representing approximately 0.00876 TWh. These indicators show how rapidly the seemingly recent inventions are progressing.

Contemporary technology must primarily be adapted to modern realities and meet new requirements. On top of the list will always be environmentally friendly products with high performance. The only technology that works for a man and is not harmful to the environment can change the world around for the better. With the automation of multiple processes and the presence of the threat of cybercrime, security plays an essential role. Blockchain technology is having an innovative financial potential and is characterized by high security and privacy. Its proper usage will allow overcoming many difficulties in various spheres of human activity. The overriding challenge remains the technological characteristics and capabilities of blockchain platforms, the improvement of which is the main task for the developers. Outdated versions no longer meet current criteria and have extremely negative effects.