How can Cryptocurrency be made More Sustainable to the Environment?

Blockchain was originally introduced as a platform for the development of digital currencies such as Bitcoin and others, but it is now making its mark more as technology. Over the course of the past 10 years since its foundation, blockchain has emerged in the concept as well as in applications.

With the potential it holds, blockchain has the power to change the way we perform day-to-day activities. From digital money and payments to identity verification to information security, blockchain can be used in almost every industry that involves transaction or security of digital assets.

People, who are not very well-accustomed with the blockchain industry, often ask questions like why blockchain, being such a valuable technology, is still limited in implementation or worldwide adoption. Well, there are several issues with blockchain and cryptocurrencies. For one, the mining of cryptocurrencies requires a lot of energy for which a constant power source is needed. The cost of mining power is way too high for any individual to be able to afford it. Only in a year, blockchain mining is known to consume more power than used by over 100 countries combined.

The high power consumption in the mining process is creating a serious depletion of energy resources around the world as well as causing a significant effect on the environment which is making blockchain companies think about other alternatives.

It would not be fair that the potential of such a promising technology like blockchain is limited by a problem which can actually be solved. Yes, the cost problem of crypto mining can actually be solved by adopting alternative and renewable means of energy which are also friendly to the environment. This is the most effective and only solution to this problem. Before we go into the depth of environment-friendly crypto mining solutions, let’s first discuss how cryptocurrency mining is done and why the cost is so high. Or a better question would be -

Why does crypto mining consume so much power?

Mining of cryptocurrencies was not such a popular activity until a decade ago. At the time when Bitcoin was founded, only a few hundred miners were actually engaged in blockchain mining, mostly as a hobby and a way to acquire some free bitcoins. The process of mining includes verification of transactions by solving complex mathematical cryptographic problems. This is usually done with the use of a computer. The verified transactions are then combined into blocks which are added to the blockchain which is a distributed ledger of transactions.

Now, as the popularity and value of bitcoin increased, more and more people started showing interest in mining. The increasing competition forced miners to use better hardware and more computing power in order to be able to solve more problems in less time. As of today, the price of 1 Bitcoin is around $3,500 and over 300,000 crypto transactions are performed by miners from server farms spread in vast areas around the world. Now, you can yourself imagine the amount of power being consumed by over 30,000 high-end computing machines performing complex mathematical transactions 24 hours a day.

The high cost of crypto mining is one of the major reasons which limit the blockchain’s enterprise-wide adoption. Companies implementing the blockchain technology will either have to pass on the network and mining cost to the users in the form of transaction fees or they will end up suffering from huge financial setbacks.

So, what’s the solution?

The only solution that seems viable to this situation is the use of alternative renewable energy source for the mining of cryptocurrencies. Let’s see how it will work.

Environment-friendly Energy Sources for Blockchain Mining

There are a number of eco-friendly and renewable energy sources that can replace the traditional means of powering blockchain transactions.

There are a number of green energy sources, such as solar power, geothermal, hydropower, and waste energy, that can effectively suffice the power requirements of crypto mining plants. Solar energy provides the best case in this particular situation. The benefit of solar energy is that the power source (i.e the Sun) is unlimited, so the energy is completely renewable. Moreover, it is totally safe for the environment. Another plus point is that there are already a number of solar power plants working across the world, so the implementation task and cost would not be much. In fact, any of the big commercial solar services can produce enough solar power required by a mining server farm to operate the entire day.

The use of renewable energy in blockchain mining is still more of a dream than reality. Since blockchain companies are mostly unaware of the consequences, they are not acting fast enough to adopt these solutions. However, there are one or two projects working with the aim to increase the use of eco-friendly energy in blockchain mining in order to reduce the cost and save the environment. Pieta is one such project.

Pieta coin is the world’s first cryptocurrency that makes use of solar power to reduce the cost of blockchain mining. The aim behind the project is to enhance commercial opportunities for solar power while providing organizations with a renewable energy alternative for blockchain mining. Pieta is based on the X20 algorithm which reduces the energy consumption in the traditional mining process by increasing the block creation speed. This is done by using the multiple hashing mechanism where 20 different rounds of hashing (encryption) are used in order to speed up the transaction verification process. This results in the creation of more blocks in less time. It also reduces the cost of mining by decreasing the power consumption.

In addition to that, Pieta makes use of solar energy instead of traditional energy sources in the mining process. Solar is a more affordable and accessible power source which is easier to implement and renew. It is also eco-friendly so has nearly zero negative impact on the environment even if the mining is done 24 hours a day. This is how Pieta significantly reduces the cost of mining by implementing renewable solar energy source.

Projects like Pieta prove that the cost problem of blockchain mining can be significantly reduced by the proper implementation of green energy sources such as solar power. The governments as well as organizations around the world should, therefore, focus more on encouraging the use of solar energy in blockchain mining.