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Sustainability in Blockchain: A Systematic Literature Review on Scalability and Power Consumption Issues

Author

Listed:
  • Hani Alshahrani

    (Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Noman Islam

    (Computer Science Department, Karachi Institute of Economics and Technology, Karachi 75500, Pakistan)

  • Darakhshan Syed

    (Computer Science Department, Bahria University, Karachi 75260, Pakistan)

  • Adel Sulaiman

    (Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mana Saleh Al Reshan

    (Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Khairan Rajab

    (Department of Computer Science, College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Asadullah Shaikh

    (Department of Information Systems, College of Computer Science and Information Systems, Najran University, Najran 61441, Saudi Arabia)

  • Jaweed Shuja-Uddin

    (Computer Science and Information Technlogy, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 75270, Pakistan)

  • Aadar Soomro

    (Computer Science and Information Technlogy, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Karachi 75270, Pakistan)

Abstract

Blockchain is a peer-to-peer trustless network that keeps records of digital assets without any central authority. With the passage of time, the sustainability issue of blockchain is rising. This paper discusses two major sustainability issues of blockchain: power consumption and scalability. It discusses the challenge of power consumption by analyzing various approaches to estimating power consumption in the literature. A case study of bitcoin is presented for this purpose. The study presents a review of the growing energy consumption of bitcoin along with a solution for immersion cooling in blockchain mining. The second challenge addressed in this research is scalability. With the increase in network size, scalability issues are also increasing as the number of transactions per second is decreasing. In other words, blockchain is observing low throughput with its increase in size. The paper discusses research studies and techniques proposed in the literature. The paper then investigates how to scale blockchain for better performance.

Suggested Citation

  • Hani Alshahrani & Noman Islam & Darakhshan Syed & Adel Sulaiman & Mana Saleh Al Reshan & Khairan Rajab & Asadullah Shaikh & Jaweed Shuja-Uddin & Aadar Soomro, 2023. "Sustainability in Blockchain: A Systematic Literature Review on Scalability and Power Consumption Issues," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-24, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:3:p:1510-:d:1056618
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Shekhar Rathor & Mingyu Zhang & Taehoon Im, 2023. "Web 3.0 and Sustainability: Challenges and Research Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-17, October.
    2. Xinlai Liu & Wenbiao Liang & Yelin Fu & George Q. Huang, 2024. "Dual Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Index for Corporate Sustainability Assessment Using Blockchain Technology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(10), pages 1-22, May.

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