Ethereum's transition to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm, which took place on September 15, 2022, led to a drastic reduction in the network's energy consumption. According to a fresh analysis by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), Ethereum's annual electricity consumption is now about 7.87 GWh — a 99.96% decrease compared to just before The Merge upgrade.
Before the transition, the network's continuous power consumption was approximately 2.4 GW. Now, this figure is estimated at 0.90 MW. The change in consensus mechanism altered the very nature of costs: under Proof-of-Work, electricity was a direct price of blockchain security, whereas under PoS, it became an operational expense for nodes, with network security provided by staked capital.
Calculation Methodology: From the Socket to a Global Conclusion
CCAF applied a "bottom-up" approach, measuring the actual electricity consumption of 20 combinations of client software and hardware configurations for Ethereum. A home setup consumed about 18 W, while a professional workstation consumed about 150 W. Considering that 36% of nodes operate on home connections and 64% in cloud or corporate infrastructure, the average figure was approximately 105 W per node.
The calculation is based on approximately 8,522 detectable full nodes. The authors emphasize that this is a lower bound, not an exact total: the monitoring system does not cover private setups, nodes behind firewalls, or configurations with discovery disabled. The baseline scenario yields 7.87 GWh per year, with lower and upper bounds ranging from 1.26 GWh to 11.49 GWh, respectively.
Geography and Hosting: Concentration of Risks
As of May 2026, the leaders in hosting Ethereum full nodes are the United States (31%), Germany (16%), Finland (8%), and France (6%). Collectively, these countries control about 62% of the infrastructure. The three largest hosting providers — Hetzner, AWS, and OVH — serve approximately 40% of nodes. This dependence on a limited number of operators creates a significant risk: the simultaneous shutdown of a large portion of the infrastructure could seriously impact network stability.
Comparison with Other PoS Networks
In terms of absolute energy consumption, Ethereum ranks second among the studied PoS networks, trailing only Solana, which consumes about 13.48 GWh per year. However, after normalizing for market capitalization, the picture changes: Ethereum consumes approximately 33 kWh per $1 million of network value. For comparison, Solana's figure is 283 kWh per $1 million — nearly 8.5 times higher. The best result was recorded for BNB Chain. The total consumption of all studied PoS networks is estimated at about 38 GWh per year.
It is important to note that the "energy per transaction" metric was deliberately excluded by the authors. The reason is that about 92% of operations in the Ethereum ecosystem pass through second-layer scaling networks, not the mainnet. Calculating only mainnet transactions would yield a heavily distorted result.
Carbon Footprint and Prospects
Renewable and nuclear sources provide 56.4% of the electricity powering Ethereum nodes, while fossil fuels account for 43.6%. The network's annual carbon footprint is estimated at approximately 2,370 tCO₂-eq., which is 99.98% lower than the last figure before The Merge. Further emission reductions will primarily depend on the decarbonization of energy systems in the countries hosting nodes. Even with unchanged energy consumption, the carbon footprint could decrease as the share of low-carbon generation grows.
My comment: The CCAF data clearly demonstrates that the transition to PoS was not just a technological but also an environmental breakthrough for Ethereum. However, the ongoing dependence on a few hosting providers signals the need for further infrastructure decentralization. Without this, the network remains vulnerable to external shocks, which could offset some of the achieved benefits.