A new Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance study provides detailed evidence that Ethereum’s energy footprint, while not negligible, ranks among the most efficient major proof-of-stake blockchains by market value. The findings offer policymakers and institutional investors a more rigorous basis for assessing blockchain sustainability in the post-Merge era.

According to the Cambridge research, Ethereum consumes approximately 7.87 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually. When adjusted for market capitalisation—a key metric for comparing networks of vastly different scales—Ethereum used roughly 33 kilowatt-hours per $1 million in market value. Only BNB Chain performed better among the proof-of-stake networks studied, making Ethereum the second-most efficient by this measure.

The contrast with Solana proved stark. The Solana network consumed about 13.48 GWh per year, translating to 283 kWh per $1 million of market value—approximately 8.5 times Ethereum’s energy intensity. The five PoS networks measured collectively used around 38 GWh.

How Cambridge Measured Ethereum’s Power Draw

The researchers took an empirical approach, testing Ethereum nodes across 20 different software client combinations to determine real-world electricity consumption. A typical residential setup drew about 18 watts, while a professional workstation consumed roughly 153 watts.

Using this data alongside information about node distribution across the network, Cambridge estimated an average power draw of 105 watts per node. The study identified approximately 8,522 discoverable full nodes, with 64% hosted in cloud or enterprise infrastructure and 36% running from residential connections.

This methodology represents one of the most granular assessments of Ethereum’s operational footprint since the network’s September 2022 transition from proof-of-work mining to proof-of-stake validation.

The Renewable Energy Question

Cambridge’s analysis found that roughly 56.4% of Ethereum’s electricity mix derives from renewable and nuclear sources, with fossil fuels accounting for the remaining 43.6%. This composition matters significantly when evaluating environmental impact relative to energy intensity alone.

The Cambridge estimate suggests that Ethereum’s remaining emissions profile is largely determined by the electricity grids powering its distributed node operators—a factor beyond the network’s direct control but relevant to discussions about blockchain sustainability.

Post-Merge Context

The Merge cut Ethereum’s electricity consumption by more than 99.9% by eliminating the energy-intensive mining process that had previously secured the network. That transition replaced competition among miners using specialised hardware with a validation system based on staked Ether, fundamentally altering the network’s resource requirements.

This study demonstrates that the dramatic efficiency gains from the Merge have positioned Ethereum favourably against other major proof-of-stake alternatives on a per-dollar-of-value basis—though absolute consumption remains higher than smaller networks due to Ethereum’s significantly larger market capitalisation and usage volume.