Whilst there is a LOT of speculation about bitcoin, it’s true energy consumption, etc, I think it is safe to say it isn’t the most friendly when it comes to power use.
We at PIVX took a detailed look at the hypothetical power consumption of our entire network. What this means, is used several variables and known stats to provide a projection of energy use for PIVX. The variables are laid out below as follows:
- In Proof of Work coins (like bitcoin), power is consumed in a few ways:
– Mining
– Computers that are Running Full Nodes (These are called core wallets). - In Proof of Stake coins (PIVX), power is consumed:
– Computers that run the full nodes (core wallets that are running the blockchain and staking). - Bitcoin has around 10,000 full “nodes” running.
- It is hard to estimate how many individual computers are staking. We know there are around 2100 nodes from masternodes running. Looking at inputs, it is a fair estimate that there are 8000 or so individual wallets staking. Thus for comparison sake, we will say there are 10,000 full nodes running for PIVX.
- Thus, since the only power consumed in PIVX is by the core wallet running, we need to look at the energy consumption of typical computers/laptops and go from there.
- The Typical Laptop Computer in Idle runs 12 W / Hr.
- That Statistic is the basis of the calculations and super difficult to find but we used this (see page 4) https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f098/ce049f0d537fac404fd45a58c9f8f4c0bca8.pdf
- We split the difference between Windows on Idle and Full power.
- PIVX Core (The wallet) only uses 3% power so it’s practically on idle.
- Most power consumption comes from running the processor hard (gaming) or the screen being on.
- THUS: With 10,000 Full Nodes (Means, 10,000 wallets running) PIVX would be 120 KwH of power or 0.12 MwH of power production.
- Wind Turbines at 35% Avg Production of a 2.5 MW Wind Turbine – 0.875 MwH average production, so 1/6th of a Wind Turbine’s actual average power generation.
- The average size of a rooftop solar installation is 8.3 Kw capacity.
- So when sun is out, 15 rooftop solar systems would power the entire PIVX network (10,000 full nodes).
So let’s say in 1 year, we have 100,000 full nodes running around the world (conceivable).
That means it would take the output from 2 wind turbines to power the entire network, or 150 rooftop solar installations.
