Enter Output World (IOG), the expertise agency spearheading the analysis and growth of Cardano, has provided an explanation as to why Cardano is regularly known as “the inexperienced blockchain.” In response to IOG, this moniker is attributed to 2 main components: a considerably decreased vitality footprint and a novel staking mechanism, as outlined in a Twitter thread and a weblog submit by IOG.
Bitcoin, the pioneer of cryptocurrencies, has confronted appreciable criticism for its environmental influence. In response to IOG, Bitcoin’s proof-of-work (PoW) protocol is infamous for its excessive vitality consumption. Present estimates recommend that Bitcoin mining consumes roughly 99.37 terawatt hours (TWh) of electrical energy yearly. That is equal to the overall vitality manufacturing of nations like Malaysia or Sweden.
In distinction, Cardano operates on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which IOG claims is way much less energy-intensive than the PoW protocols utilized by Bitcoin and different cryptocurrencies. In a PoS system, community members run nodes, and the blockchain selects a node so as to add the subsequent block primarily based on the node’s stake and different parameters. IOG explains that this course of eliminates the necessity for block producers to spend extreme quantities of time and computational energy to resolve random puzzles, a attribute of PoW mining protocols.
IOG additional highlights the vitality effectivity of Cardano’s PoS system by noting {that a} Cardano node could be run on a low-powered processor, comparable to a Raspberry Pi. That is in distinction to PoW mining protocols, which require highly effective, costly, and energy-intensive {hardware} to supply blocks. In consequence, IOG posits that Cardano and different PoS protocols are being acknowledged as inexperienced alternate options to PoW blockchains.
Furthermore, IOG factors out that the low energy overhead of PoS makes it possible to run on renewable vitality. IOG states that a number of stake swimming pools are already working on 100% renewable vitality, additional enhancing Cardano’s sustainability credentials.
