Before the Merge upgrade, in 2022, Ethereum’s energy 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.
YouTube uses an extreme amount of energy
As of October 15, the day of the Ethereum Merge, Ethereum’s energy dropped by more than 99.9% and energy consumption remains low. As a result, the network’s carbon footprint is currently 0.1 million tons of CO2 (MtCO2) per year. This means that one Ethereum transaction uses only 0.03 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity and the ecological footprint is 0.01 kg of CO2. The graph below from digiconomist shows how the energy consumption of the ETH network now compares with other products/platforms.
Centralization Ethereum network
Despite the celebrations surrounding the transition from Ethereum to PoS, community members expressed concern about the centralization of the blockchain and stricter regulatory oversight.
The centralization aspect can be seen immediately after The Merge. In fact, 46.15% of nodes for storing data, processing transactions and adding new blockchain blocks are now attributed to just two addresses.
While Ethereum proponents claim that anyone with 32 ETH can become a validator, it is important to note that 32 ETH ($41 thousand) is no small amount for a novice or casual trader.