How Does Electricity Consumption in Blockchain Applications Impact Resource Consumption and Environmental Emissions?

IF 4.3 3区工程技术 Q2 ENERGY & FUELS

International Journal of Energy Research Pub Date : 2025-05-14 DOI:10.1155/er/5772901

Tian-Tian Feng, Yan Li, Cheng Zhong, Han-Qun Wang, Ning-Qian Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Blockchain technology, known for its decentralized, trustless, and immutable nature, is gaining traction across various industries. As Blockchain 3.0 is expected to see widespread adoption in the sharing economy and energy trading, its associated energy consumption could have significant environmental implications. This study introduces an environmentally extended input–output (EEIO) model to assess the environmental impacts—such as freshwater use, PM2.5 emissions, CO₂ emissions, atmospheric Hg, and solid waste generation—linked to blockchain-driven electricity demand. By analyzing scenarios based on projected cryptocurrency hash rates and hardware efficiencies, the study evaluates how large-scale blockchain adoption affects resource consumption and environmental emissions across sectors. The results show that Monero’s design leads to higher resource consumption and environmental impact, with freshwater use being the most affected, followed by greenhouse gas emissions and PM2.5 levels.

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区块链应用的用电量如何影响资源消耗和环境排放？

区块链技术以其去中心化、无需信任和不可变的特性而闻名，正在各个行业获得关注。由于区块链3.0预计将在共享经济和能源交易中得到广泛采用，其相关的能源消耗可能会对环境产生重大影响。本研究引入了一个环境扩展投入产出（EEIO）模型，以评估与区块链驱动的电力需求相关的环境影响，如淡水使用、PM2.5排放、二氧化碳排放、大气汞和固体废物产生。通过分析基于预计加密货币哈希率和硬件效率的场景，该研究评估了大规模采用区块链如何影响各个部门的资源消耗和环境排放。结果表明，门罗币的设计导致更高的资源消耗和环境影响，其中淡水使用受到的影响最大，其次是温室气体排放和PM2.5水平。

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来源期刊

International Journal of Energy Research 工程技术-核科学技术

CiteScore

9.80

自引率

8.70%

发文量

1170

审稿时长

3.1 months

期刊介绍： The International Journal of Energy Research (IJER) is dedicated to providing a multidisciplinary, unique platform for researchers, scientists, engineers, technology developers, planners, and policy makers to present their research results and findings in a compelling manner on novel energy systems and applications. IJER covers the entire spectrum of energy from production to conversion, conservation, management, systems, technologies, etc. We encourage papers submissions aiming at better efficiency, cost improvements, more effective resource use, improved design and analysis, reduced environmental impact, and hence leading to better sustainability. IJER is concerned with the development and exploitation of both advanced traditional and new energy sources, systems, technologies and applications. Interdisciplinary subjects in the area of novel energy systems and applications are also encouraged. High-quality research papers are solicited in, but are not limited to, the following areas with innovative and novel contents: -Biofuels and alternatives -Carbon capturing and storage technologies -Clean coal technologies -Energy conversion, conservation and management -Energy storage -Energy systems -Hybrid/combined/integrated energy systems for multi-generation -Hydrogen energy and fuel cells -Hydrogen production technologies -Micro- and nano-energy systems and technologies -Nuclear energy -Renewable energies (e.g. geothermal, solar, wind, hydro, tidal, wave, biomass) -Smart energy system