Towards Adoption of Green Blockchain with Emphasis on Blockchain Type, Consensus Protocols, Data Sharding and Smart Contracts

Abstract

Blockchain and related Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) are anticipated to transform a the world of web from a centralised document-sharing platform to a comprehensive decentralised platform that facilitates the exchange of digital currency and supports autonomous management of digital assets. The central server is susceptible to attacks, distrust and collusion. If the web can assure reliable, safe, and responsible updates among independent participants without the need for a centralized server, the perception of a decentralised web can be re-instantiated. One of the essential technologies required to restore the openness of the internet while maintaining its security is distributed ledger technology (DLT). DLTs may now totally handle business and legal transactions online, creating a more trustworthy and accountable environment. Blockchain technology marks a major breakthrough by removing the need for a centralised trusted authority in a widely distributed network. Instead, a consensus must be reached among several sources of trust, based on an algorithm, that this transaction may be believed to be legitimate. The consensus algorithms in blockchain technology offer an immutable and permanent record of a transaction that is immutable, trustworthy and secured. Consensus algorithms are however energy consuming because of their computation heavy nature. This has been a biggest inhibition towards blockchain adoption. The energy needs for committing a blockchain transaction is also governed by whether it is a public/permissioned blockchain, its consensus algorithm, onchain-offchain data and the code complexity of smart contracts. The paper presents a state-of art evaluation of the current blockchain platforms and cryptos and evaluate them with the energy consumptions. Additionally, it also proposes a framework architecture of a green blockchain application. A green blockchain refers to the implementation of environmentally sustainable algorithms, tools and platforms in blockchain technology, aiming to reduce energy consumption, carbon emissions, and promote eco-friendly operations with energy-efficient algorithms and strategies.