Most investors prefer to buy Ethereum because of its value potential. Despite being a well-established cryptocurrency, Ethereum only managed to become green crypto years later. The 10 altcoins we have listed are currently the most energy-efficient cryptocurrencies on the market.
Energy efficient altcoin projects that you can invest in for the future
Ethereum 2.0 (ETH)
According to the Ethereum website, switching to the PoS mechanism will reduce Ethereum’s energy requirements by 99.95%. In turn, the amount of CO2 pumped into the atmosphere attributable to Ethereum’s operations will be minimized. According to analyst Conner Brooke, thanks to these changes, Ethereum will become the biggest green crypto of 2022.
Chia (XCH) leads the altcoin market in low energy consumption
Chia Blockchain is secured using unused storage on network participants’ HDDs and SDDs. Owners of these storage devices write 100GB ‘plots’ full of hashes on them. When a new block is created, its hash is compared to the hashes in these graphs.
The plot with the closest resemblance to the block’s summaries ‘wins’ the block and the corresponding XCH prize. According to the Chia website, this approach means that Chia uses only 0.16% of Bitcoin’s annual energy expenditure. What’s more, Chia founder Bram Cohen even wrote a peer-reviewed ‘Green Book’ detailing how the network’s unique consensus mechanism can help the environment. This adds tremendous credibility to the project. It makes Chia one of the greenest cryptos to consider.
Polygon (MATIC)
Like many green Blockchains, Polygon uses a PoS consensus mechanism. This means that the network’s validators consume only about 0.00079 TWh of electricity per year. Compare that to Bitcoin’s annual energy consumption of 35 to 140 TWh, and it’s clear how much better Polygon is for the environment.
Polygon has emerged as one of the best altcoins for sustainability reasons thanks to the announcement of the ‘Green Manifesto’. This document highlights Polygon’s commitment to being carbon neutral by 2022. Developers also use $20 million to offset the network’s carbon footprint.
Polygon will achieve this by purchasing carbon credits and then retiring them, thereby effectively removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Finally, this eco-friendly cryptocurrency project has even offered to help partner companies offset their carbon footprints by providing needed resources.
Low-carbon altcoin project: TRON (TRX)
At the time of writing, many believe TRON is the largest crypto under $1 due to the network’s goal of removing the middleman from the content creation process. In turn, this allows creators to retain a greater degree of ownership over their content, ultimately leading to greater financial rewards.
However, TRON is also a green cryptocurrency, as a recent Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI) report states that the network only consumes as much energy as 15 US households. In addition, CCRI found that the carbon density of the web was just below the world average.
The report also found that TRON consumes less energy than other leading ‘green’ blockchains such as Avalanche, Algorand and Cardano. This means that TRON emits just 69.42 tons of CO2 every year, making it one of the greenest cryptocurrencies with a low carbon footprint.
Bitcoin’s greenest altcoin alternative: Hedera (HBAR)
The technology supporting this algorithm is relatively complex, but the bottom line is that this approach is designed to be more scalable than existing networks. This means that Hedera can handle 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) with an accuracy of 3-5 seconds.
However, Hedera is also one of the most environmentally friendly crypto projects and has committed to being carbon negative. The altcoin project’s team achieves this by purchasing carbon offsets every three months with Terrapass to ensure the amounts purchased are correct.
While Hedera’s energy consumption will increase as the network expands, the team has pledged to purchase more carbon offsets to account for this growth. Either way, since Hedera consumes only 0.00017 kWh of energy per transaction (compared to Bitcoin’s 1,736.85), this network can undoubtedly be considered a green energy crypto.
Algorand (ALGO)
One of the most attractive features of Algorand is that the network supports various programming languages. This includes Java, Go and Python, JavaScript and more. As a result, this makes it much easier for developers to build apps in Algorand as they don’t need to learn another language.
However, the altcoin is one of the best utility tokens in terms of sustainability as it uses smart contracts to offset its carbon footprint. This is achieved by reducing the network’s CO2 footprint by using a portion of each transaction fee to purchase carbon credits.
The acquisition process is streamlined thanks to Algorand’s partnership with ClimateTrade, which helps validate carbon credits traded on the Blockchain. Therefore, this green crypto mining alternative is both completely transparent and scalable, ensuring that the positive impact does not diminish over time.
Stellar (XLM)
Stellar was founded by one of Ripple’s oldest team members and has received support from payments giant Stripe, emphasizing the credibility of the project. Thanks to Stellar’s infrastructure, payments can be processed in just five seconds, with fees of a fraction of a cent.
As noted by the Stellar Foundation, the network uses a PoA protocol to reach consensus. This unique approach means that programs using this protocol consume only 261,435 kWh of electricity per year; this is equivalent to 22.4 US digits.
Moreover, the Stellar Foundation has established an ongoing carbon dioxide removal process and aims to remove the network’s historic carbon footprint dating back to 2015. Network users can engage and assist in this process through the Stellar website.
Celo (CELO)
The most important thing to note about Celo is that it is designed for use on smartphones. This concept has not received much attention in the market. Additionally, Celo is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making it easy for developers to transfer their dApps if they want to.
Celo may be one of the least valued cryptos as it is a carbon negative blockchain. The network contributes to daily offsets in connection with Project Wren; This means that Celo has offset more than 3,362 tons of CO2 since its inception.
To put this in perspective, that figure is equivalent to avoiding 3,491 flights from Los Angeles to Paris, or walking more than 8.3 million miles instead of driving. In addition, Celo has hosted exciting blockchain-based projects such as Loam and MOSS, which aim to slow global warming by reducing CO2 emissions.
Tezos (XTZ)
Tezos is a blockchain project that differentiates itself by allowing token holders to have a tangible impact on network upgrades. Those who own enough XTZ tokens are referred to as “bakers” meaning they help verify transactions and can also suggest changes to the Blockchain.
Those wondering how to invest in Web3 may want to consider Tezos, as the network now has a host of exciting applications in the areas of decentralized finance (DeFi), NFTs, and Blockchain gaming. It has also increased its publicity by partnering with high-profile names such as Tezos, Manchester United, Ubisoft and Red Bull.
However, Tezos aims to be the greenest crypto in the blockchain arena due to its PoS consensus mechanism, meaning it has an average energy footprint of just 17 world citizens. This means that the annual electricity consumption of the network is only 0.001 TWh – much less than Bitcoin.
Interestingly, Tezos’ energy consumption decreases as the on-chain activity increases. This means that Tezos is getting more environmentally friendly as the network’s popularity grows. Therefore, Tezos is undoubtedly a green cryptocurrency to be considered in the months and years to come.
Left (LEFT)
Ending our list of the greenest cryptocurrency projects to invest in is Solana. Solana is a highly scalable blockchain that uses a unique Proof of History algorithm to reach consensus. This is similar to PoS but allows more transactions per second.
People often buy Solana for its high yields, but the network has also made a name for itself in the NFT niche. At the time of writing, Solana has reached an all-time high in terms of NFT mints, breaching 300,000 digital assets in a single day.
From a sustainability perspective, Solana managed to become carbon neutral in 2021 and aims to repeat this success in 2022. Solana achieves this by funding ‘refrigerant disposal’, which according to Green America is considered the best solution to reverse climate change.
Solana is one of the green cryptos on this list that has partnered with leading eco-friendly institutions like Watershed to offset its CO2 footprint. Finally, Solana’s team has pledged to continue to make Blockchain more performant, which has led to greater energy efficiency.
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