Ethereum has seen a lot of change over time, especially since then Merger.The upgrade replaced the power-intensive Proof of Work (PoW) system with Proof of Stake (PoS).
With this change, Ethereum currently uses approximately 8,522 physical nodes, many of which house multiple validators, and approximately 894,000 validators.
As a result, Ethereum now only consumes 7.87 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, or about 0.90 megawatts of continuous power. This is less than half of the British Museum’s annual electricity consumption.
Before the merger, the grid required approximately 2.4 gigawatts of continuous power.
Since then, Ethereum’s electricity consumption has dropped by more than 99.9%, representing one of the largest power reductions by a major blockchain.
Is Ethereum truly decentralized?
In addition, the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) a report He highlighted that the Ethereum infrastructure is decentralized despite being geographically concentrated. Of all nodes, approximately 62% are hosted by the United States (31%), Germany (16%), Finland (8%), and France (6%).
Another important discovery is that 56.4% of electricity is used in power generation Ethereum It comes from sustainable sources, such as 17% from nuclear energy and 39.4% from renewable energy.
Looking at the electricity mix in major host countries, natural gas remains the largest fossil fuel source at 27.7%. The fact that Ethereum’s sustainable energy share is generally higher than the global average of around 43% shows how much the network relies on cleaner electrical grids.
What does Ethereum’s carbon footprint mean for the network?
At the same time, Ethereum’s carbon footprint has decreased significantly in conjunction with a significant reduction in electricity consumption. According to the report, the network reduced its emissions by 99.98% from the final proof-of-work era to an estimated 2.37 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (ktCO₂e) per year.
To put this into perspective, Ethereum’s annual emissions are equivalent to the carbon footprint of around 900 UK households.
Interestingly, future developments, such as stateless verification, may reduce the need for power and hardware, reducing Ethereum’s carbon footprint while maintaining decentralization and security.
What lies ahead?
This also coincided with the development of Ethereum, which entered a new phase as researchers revealed “Lean Ethereum“, a multi-year overhaul aimed at the long-term evolution of the network. The plan is to replace the cores of the Ethereum protocol over a period of approximately three to four years, rather than a single upgrade.
While these developments were taking place, Ethereum’s price rose 1.42% the previous day and is now trading at $1,798.71 at press time. The MACD and RSI indicators also showed that bulls are more aggressive than they were before. However, ETH needs to cross the $1.8K mark for the bulls to continue.
Final summary
- Ethereum has about 62% of all nodes hosted in the United States, followed by Germany, Finland, and France.
- The network has reduced its emissions to an estimated 2.37 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (ktCO₂e) per year.
