We’ve come a long way since the early days of Web3. Now we have decentralized apps, browsers and web pages. But one of the most fundamental building blocks of Web3 remains: decentralized computing. Without decentralized computing, our computers would have to rely on centralized servers run by giant corporations like Amazon or Google who use massive amounts of energy to power their cloud computing infrastructure — which is how they will keep getting richer and richer at our expense.
CUDOS is a decentralized cloud computing project in Web3 to reduce largecloud giant CO2 emissions by 50–80%. The Ethereum blockchain powered CUDOS, and it allows developers to monetize their skills while helping to increase accessibility and reduce malicious activity on the network.
Why do we need a CUDOS?
Web3 has the potential to transform how we combat climate change with the creation of tokenized carbon credits and a growing number of organisations committed to integrating blockchain technology and sustainability.
Blockchain’s transparency in climate action is priceless. People are no longer expected to blindly trust governments or institutions that have disappointed them in the past — the proof is in the code.
In the end, Web3’s architects decide how it will progress. Unless we actively take steps in a different direction, which is essential for the future of humanity, the catastrophic development pattern that we have witnessed for ages won’t end.
As more people shift to cloud computing, the demand for data centres has resulted in exponential growth in power consumption. This is driven by the need for 24x7x365 availability of services, which means that every data centre will run at full capacity all day and night.
Consequently, there are concerns about carbon emissions from data centres as they consume large amounts of power and generate high volumes of waste heat (more than 1/3rd of global electricity consumption). A recent study shows that on average across its lifetime, a server consumes roughly 50 kW-hr per year (or 33 MWh over its lifespan), equivalent to driving 3 cars around the equator!
The cloud computing problem
A cloud is a powerful tool. It’s made productivity more streamlined and efficient for all of us, but it also has some serious problems.
The cloud giants are the largest energy consumers in the world: In 2018, Amazon and Google ranked #2 and #3 on Greenpeace’s list of top 100 global CO2 emitters (Alibaba was #100). Their operations are so large that they have an outsize impact on our climate, which we’re already experiencing as rising sea levels due to melting polar ice caps, increasing temperatures in tropical regions, stronger storms like hurricanes Harvey and Florence — and yes — also droughts like California’s ongoing “Worst Drought On Record.”
They’re centralized: This means that even though your data may be stored on a server somewhere far away from you or at least halfway around the world from where you live physically (and therefore harder to access), there’s still one company that controls access to it all — a single point of failure or attack point with potentially devastating consequences if hackers were able to penetrate their defences enough times.
The carbon credit strategy
We’ve all heard of carbon credits, but what are they and why do they matter? Carbon credits are a way for individuals or companies to incentivize carbon reduction by offsetting their emissions. A company or individual can purchase carbon credits to offset the CO2 emitted from their activities, which lowers their overall carbon footprinton climate change. The CUDOS project is working on a strategy for issuing carbon credits based off of the power usage in our decentralised cloud network. This will help us reduce our footprint with every transaction we process!
To use blockchain technology to revolutionise carbon credits, we have teamed with ClimateTrade and KyotoProtocol.io. In the past, carbon credit businesses have behaved in enigmatic ways that made both environmentalists and business owners doubt their efficacy. We can provide complete openness and accountability because of the characteristics of blockchain, a public ledger where entries cannot be removed, and our carefully chosen partners.
Reducing the CUDOS carbon emission footprint to Net Zero
To reduce the CUDOS carbon emission footprint to Net Zero, we have a few options.
Reduce the number of servers that run our systems. With a cloud-based system, you don’t need as many servers as you would have had before because you can scale up and down your computing power as needed. This makes it easier to use renewable energy to power those servers because there’s less of a need for them in general. We’re already starting this process by shutting down some of our data centres, which are more expensive than having more efficient ones (and they also use more electricity).
Use renewable energy sources like wind or solar power instead of fossil fuels like coal or natural gas since fossil fuels make greenhouse gases when burned (which cause climate change). The fact is that there aren’t enough people who want wind turbines on their land so most wind farms are built offshore — far away from where anyone lives! But if we could find enough land nearby then maybe we wouldn’t need offshore wind farms after all… maybe someday soon.
When you’re using less energy then it’s easier for everyone else who does not use renewable sources too (meaning fossil fuel-powered cars) because there won’t be as many greenhouse gases being released into earth’s atmosphere from anyone else either.”
One of the most fundamental building blocks of Web3 is decentralized computing. For that, we have to use a lot of energy. CUDOS is working on making that happen without reducing carbonemissions to the environment.
One thing you might not know about CUDOS is that it’s also a revenue-generating project; it will be able to monetize skills and reduce carbon emissions by 50–80%. The goal of the whole system is to make sure no one in your organization has any idea how much power they are using or what their impact on climate change is.
Conclusion
CUDOS is an example of how new technology can be used to address the problem of climate change. With the advent of Web3, we can decentralize many aspects of our lives and make them more efficient, while also reducing CO2 emissions by 50% or more. This blog post has covered some basic concepts behind CUDOS and how it might help achieve a net zero carbon footprint with decentralized cloud computing technology. We hope this inspires you to learn more about CUDOS and other projects that are working towards similar goals!
Top comments (1)
I don't really understand this. Didn't the world agree that crypto is inherently a waste of energy due to all of the heavy and wasteful calculations involved? And last I checked its easier to switch over a single large entity to green energy than it is to convince a load of random people to do so. And what makes you think that if nations can't find large enough pieces of land to put green energy production on, that somehow everyone else will be?
Another thing I don't understand is how anyone can believe most websites will want to, or are even able to let their data go decentralized. Information is power and money, pay-walling information in some shape or form is what most online businesses run on.
There is a lot of wishful thinking going on here. And while I am all for going green, there's a lot that can't be done for a long time to come, sadly.