Merger Reduces Ethereum's Network Power Consumption by Over 99.9%

Before the Merge upgrade in 2022, Ethereum's power consumption ranged between 46.31 terawatt hours (TWh) per year and 93.98 TWh per year.

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The merger, which is considered one of the most significant blockchain upgrades on Ethereum (ETH) to date, immediately reduced network power consumption by 99.9%.

On September 15, the Ethereum blockchain transitioned from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism with the goal of transitioning to a green blockchain. What followed was an immediate and steep drop in the total power consumption of the Ethereum network.

The Ethereum Power Consumption Index . Source: digiconomist.net

Before the Merge upgrade in 2022, Ethereum's power consumption ranged from 46.31 terawatt hours (TWh) per year to 93.98 TWh per year. The lowest energy consumption for Ethereum was recorded on December 26, 2019, at 4.75 TWh per year.

Estimated annual energy consumption in TWh /year for various industries. Source: ethereum.org

As of October 15, the day of Ethereum's merger, Ethereum's energy has dropped by more than 99.9% and continues to maintain a low power consumption. As a result, the network's carbon footprint currently stands at 0.1 million tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) per year.

When translated into single Ethereum transactions, the power consumption is as low as 0.03 kilowatt-hours (kWh) and the carbon footprint amounts to 0.01 kgCO2, which according to the digiconomist is equivalent to the energy used to watch two hours of YouTube.

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