This article data science blogthon.
prologue
Web3 is heralded as the future of the Internet. This new blockchain-based vision of the web includes cryptocurrencies, NFTs, DAOs, decentralized finance, and other capabilities. It offers a read/write/own version of the web where users have a financial stake and have more control over the web community they belong to. However, such advanced computing and processing comes with a significant carbon footprint.
Source: https://uapcorporate.com/about-us/environment/The arrival of Web 3 is about unlocking unimaginable value. The next chapter of the Internet will usher in a new economic paradigm, where new technologies will enable new business models that will transform the world. Taking advantage of these opportunities will be a defining challenge for all companies in the coming decades. At the same time, climate change is one of humanity’s most pressing problems, and it is everyone’s responsibility to address it. Our ability to provide high-performance computing and infrastructure to support Web 3 development with minimal environmental impact is critical to our future success.
High energy consumption of Web 3 technology
Even for experts in the field, assessing the environmental impact of vast ecosystems like digital communications networks is a guessing game. How many identifiable data centers are there? How many stealth centers are there? (especially in the military and government sector)? How many people are working above or below their capacity? How much power do they draw from the grid?
- Every transaction must be considered when calculating your internet power consumption and carbon footprint. Like the traditional Web, Web3 has layers, so the only way to assess its long-term viability is segment by segment.
- Web 3’s data traffic layer is already in action. The number of submarine cables, antennas, and data centers can be used to calculate the environmental impact. The manufacturing impact, installation impact, and power usage impact of these components are all factors.
- In terms of power consumption, the total data transmission consumption across the Internet is 260-340 TWh (approximately 1.4% of global power consumption).
- The end-use tier, which corresponds to devices making transaction requests (smartphones, notebooks, etc.), is used for a variety of purposes outside of web3. It’s even possible to argue that the absence of web3 would have had little impact on the production of these devices. This is because there are no devices on the market yet that are dedicated or primarily targeted for blockchain applications.
- Similar conclusions can be drawn for storage tiers using traditional computers and servers. Few data centers are dedicated to web3 data storage, as the full node concept essentially consists of one computer per node. It doesn’t make much sense to build a large facility for this purpose. Users rent space on Cloud Her service. However, they exist primarily to serve his web2.
- Global Scenario:
- Climate change is a global coordination problem. The system has failed to coordinate the effective policies and capital investments necessary to address humanity’s most pressing threats. Adapting to climate change and rapidly reducing emissions to avoid loss of life, biodiversity and infrastructure will require accelerated action and ambitious climate policies.
- Adaptation progress has been uneven so far, and the gap between actions taken and what is needed to manage risks is widening. Concerns about the compatibility of decarbonization with economic development, the fairness of global burden-sharing for climate mitigation, and the risk of competitive disadvantage in both domestic and international markets are just some of the reasons.
There is a desperate need for global coordination techniques that can cut through the mass bureaucracy of climate action. This is where Web3’s innovations come to the rescue.
Web 3 environmental issues
The consensus layer is the real source of web3 criticism. The Proof of Work protocol has caused the Bitcoin network to consume more energy than some countries.
PoW mining requires a computer to perform a large number of calculations. These calculations are lottery-style attempts to “guess” the correct number. Whoever gets it right first can mine the block. Every 10 minutes, a new block is mined by the network and the process restarts. The more computing power a miner has, the more likely it is to mine a block.
This is why Bitcoin consumes so much energy today. As the network grows in use and popularity, so does Bitcoin’s economic value, and more miners participate.
Source: https://scroll.in/article/1024205/the-crash-in-cryptocurrency-prices-offers-some-hope-for-the-climate
Currently, the energy cost of Bitcoin PoW is around 200 TWh, which is comparable to Thailand’s total consumption. Bitcoin’s annual carbon footprint is approximately 114 million tons of CO2. This energy consumption is expected to increase in the future. However, Bitcoin proponents argue that the use of clean energy is on the rise. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council, sustainable energy accounts for about 60% of the energy costs of Bitcoin mining today.
Making Web 3.0 Green and Sustainable
There are many ways to work for the future of Green Web 3. they are:
- Proof of work consumes a lot of energy. Proof of Stake (PoS) protocols work differently than Proof of Work (PoW) protocols. Instead of a computer trying to hit numbers, PoS selects miners based on how many tokens they have. The more tokens an agent owns, the more likely it is to be selected. This description is very simplistic and ignores some security and decentralization aspects of the PoS protocol, but the basic concepts are based on it.
Source: https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/websites/web-design/sustainable-web-design/
- No mining as there is no need to look for random numbers. For this reason, the “miners” in the PoS protocol are called “validators”. The PoS protocol is considered long-lived. The energy cost of PoS machines is comparable to that of laptops.
- For PoW, specific computers known as ASICs were developed to do the job. His latest ASIC can consume up to 3000 W/h, and there are dozens of these machines in mining farms.
- This is another important aspect of the PoS protocol. There is no such thing as a “mining farm” as the pool only needs more delegated tokens, not more computers, to increase the chances of being selected to validate a block. So in addition to energy operational benefits, there are infrastructure benefits.
- Breaking free from the bureaucracy and politicization that plagued traditional sustainability systems, the ReFi movement has created a space for innovators, creatives and advocates to rethink climate action at a breakneck pace. Web3’s climate tools and services share ReFi’s values and are essential to the global coordination needed to combat climate change. These values include building cooperatives, democratic ownership within communities, maximizing community benefits, creative sustainability, radical inclusion, non-extraction, and intentional restoration. will be
- Crypto Coral Tribe is a community of 6565 NFTs using art and technology to advance ocean and wildlife conservation. This includes using funds raised from the initial pledge to plant 3000 corals on three continents.
A community-driven approach is urgently needed to design innovative climate solutions, leveraging local and indigenous knowledge, iterating on alternative ways to promote impact. Web3 can do this. Several Web3 projects are already underway to redefine how humans interact with natural resources and the larger environment.
Conclusion
The surge in Green Web3 initiatives ultimately reflects a growing awareness of the critical need for sustainability, and may allow us to envision a possible harmony between technology and the environment. .
In conclusion:
- While web3 represents an evolution of web2 in many ways, it’s hard to imagine web3 being any greener than web2.
- Decentralized networks require complex infrastructure and implementation of consensus protocols, and can be energy intensive in some cases.
- Now is the time for companies to make an aggressive case, both in the next frontier of computing: the Metaverse, and in propelling the underlying software towards a more sustainable future.
Web 3.0 is here to stay and will change the world. The responsibility to be green and good for the environment lies with those who make change.
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