Sustainability in the Metaverse

The starting point in the metaverse development, which is happening right now, is the time to think about the dimensions of sustainability.

The starting point in the metaverse development, which is happening right now, is the time to think about the dimensions of sustainability. There are two clear divisions that are equally important — environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

Source: Campaignlive.com

Environmental Sustainability

What is Environmental Sustainability?

The metaverse promises to significantly reduce carbon emissions by replacing physical items with digital ones and real-world presence with virtual interaction. The physical universe, from the globe to specific individuals, will be improved with the aid of digital counterparts. Our behavioral hurdles to taking action on climate change might be overcome thanks to the immersive quality of metaverse events. However, excluding cryptocurrency mining, data centers represent about 1% of global electricity demand. Yet, an average Ethereum transaction consumes 60% more energy than 100,000 credit card transactions, while an average Bitcoin transaction consumes 14 times more power than that.

The consolidation of metaverse platforms into centralized services might potentially aid sustainability initiatives. Resources would likely be used more effectively if there were just a few metaverse offerings out there that were shared by a large number of businesses, rather than hundreds or thousands of unique metaverses. This might occur, for instance, if public cloud service providers launched “metaverse-as-a-service” products that made it simple for companies to create metaverse environments on demand using shared hosting resources with other users. An example of this would be the Arhead Platform, which allows creators to create, communicate and collaborate on their own metaverse spaces on one platform.

Source: venturebeat.com

Travel

The percentage of renewable energy used in Bitcoin mining is only about 25%. According to one estimate, the typical NFT transaction generated 48 kg of CO2, equal to 18 gallons of fuel. However, one of the biggest changes the metaverse allows is eliminating or reducing business travel. During the pandemic, the number of meetings, workshops and conferences online increased dramatically, and the metaverse provides an easy tool where all the aforementioned activities can be held.

Blockchains

Polygon — By permanently retiring $400,000 in carbon credits to offset 104,794 tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted since the inception of its blockchain, Polygon, the leading Ethereum scaling platform onboarding millions to Web3, announced its network has achieved carbon neutrality and is on the road to becoming carbon negative. Before Ethereum switches to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, which will cut the network’s energy consumption by roughly 99%, Polygon makes a commitment to sustainability. After Ethereum switches to PoS and the CCRI analysis is finished, Polygon will surpass carbon neutrality and become carbon negative.

Tezos — An efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain is Tezos. With scalable, secure open-source code that platforms can use to create games, apps, and NFTs with faster transaction times and lower carbon footprints, it provides an ecologically friendly alternative to conventional blockchains.

Social Sustainability

Source: archdaily.com

We must not lose sight of the necessity of creating an open, welcoming, and fair metaverse. Instead of trying to retrofit virtual worlds after exponential expansion, now is the moment to incorporate sustainability into their initial design. In order to fully comprehend what customers’ needs and desires are with regard to technology, it is also necessary for technology businesses and the wide range of possible users to work together. The metaverse may become more inexpensive and open to equal access as a result.

Therefore, Social Sustainability lies within the lines of accessibility, making the metaverse a tool that is useful for many different purposes for a myriad of reasons and people, while keeping them safe. Earlier last year New York Times mentioned that [Virtual] reality plunges people into an all-encompassing digital environment where unwanted touches in the digital world can be made to feel real and the sensory experience is heightened,” emphasizing the importance of keeping the digital users safe.

The starting point in the metaverse development, which is happening right now, is the time to think about the dimensions of sustainability. There are two clear divisions that are equally important — environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

Source: Campaignlive.com

Environmental Sustainability

What is Environmental Sustainability?

The metaverse promises to significantly reduce carbon emissions by replacing physical items with digital ones and real-world presence with virtual interaction. The physical universe, from the globe to specific individuals, will be improved with the aid of digital counterparts. Our behavioral hurdles to taking action on climate change might be overcome thanks to the immersive quality of metaverse events. However, excluding cryptocurrency mining, data centers represent about 1% of global electricity demand. Yet, an average Ethereum transaction consumes 60% more energy than 100,000 credit card transactions, while an average Bitcoin transaction consumes 14 times more power than that.

The consolidation of metaverse platforms into centralized services might potentially aid sustainability initiatives. Resources would likely be used more effectively if there were just a few metaverse offerings out there that were shared by a large number of businesses, rather than hundreds or thousands of unique metaverses. This might occur, for instance, if public cloud service providers launched “metaverse-as-a-service” products that made it simple for companies to create metaverse environments on demand using shared hosting resources with other users. An example of this would be the Arhead Platform, which allows creators to create, communicate and collaborate on their own metaverse spaces on one platform.

Source: venturebeat.com

Travel

The percentage of renewable energy used in Bitcoin mining is only about 25%. According to one estimate, the typical NFT transaction generated 48 kg of CO2, equal to 18 gallons of fuel. However, one of the biggest changes the metaverse allows is eliminating or reducing business travel. During the pandemic, the number of meetings, workshops and conferences online increased dramatically, and the metaverse provides an easy tool where all the aforementioned activities can be held.

Blockchains

Polygon — By permanently retiring $400,000 in carbon credits to offset 104,794 tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted since the inception of its blockchain, Polygon, the leading Ethereum scaling platform onboarding millions to Web3, announced its network has achieved carbon neutrality and is on the road to becoming carbon negative. Before Ethereum switches to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, which will cut the network’s energy consumption by roughly 99%, Polygon makes a commitment to sustainability. After Ethereum switches to PoS and the CCRI analysis is finished, Polygon will surpass carbon neutrality and become carbon negative.

Tezos — An efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain is Tezos. With scalable, secure open-source code that platforms can use to create games, apps, and NFTs with faster transaction times and lower carbon footprints, it provides an ecologically friendly alternative to conventional blockchains.

Social Sustainability

Source: archdaily.com

We must not lose sight of the necessity of creating an open, welcoming, and fair metaverse. Instead of trying to retrofit virtual worlds after exponential expansion, now is the moment to incorporate sustainability into their initial design. In order to fully comprehend what customers’ needs and desires are with regard to technology, it is also necessary for technology businesses and the wide range of possible users to work together. The metaverse may become more inexpensive and open to equal access as a result.

Therefore, Social Sustainability lies within the lines of accessibility, making the metaverse a tool that is useful for many different purposes for a myriad of reasons and people, while keeping them safe. Earlier last year New York Times mentioned that [Virtual] reality plunges people into an all-encompassing digital environment where unwanted touches in the digital world can be made to feel real and the sensory experience is heightened,” emphasizing the importance of keeping the digital users safe.

The starting point in the metaverse development, which is happening right now, is the time to think about the dimensions of sustainability. There are two clear divisions that are equally important — environmental sustainability and social sustainability.

Source: Campaignlive.com

Environmental Sustainability

What is Environmental Sustainability?

The metaverse promises to significantly reduce carbon emissions by replacing physical items with digital ones and real-world presence with virtual interaction. The physical universe, from the globe to specific individuals, will be improved with the aid of digital counterparts. Our behavioral hurdles to taking action on climate change might be overcome thanks to the immersive quality of metaverse events. However, excluding cryptocurrency mining, data centers represent about 1% of global electricity demand. Yet, an average Ethereum transaction consumes 60% more energy than 100,000 credit card transactions, while an average Bitcoin transaction consumes 14 times more power than that.

The consolidation of metaverse platforms into centralized services might potentially aid sustainability initiatives. Resources would likely be used more effectively if there were just a few metaverse offerings out there that were shared by a large number of businesses, rather than hundreds or thousands of unique metaverses. This might occur, for instance, if public cloud service providers launched “metaverse-as-a-service” products that made it simple for companies to create metaverse environments on demand using shared hosting resources with other users. An example of this would be the Arhead Platform, which allows creators to create, communicate and collaborate on their own metaverse spaces on one platform.

Source: venturebeat.com

Travel

The percentage of renewable energy used in Bitcoin mining is only about 25%. According to one estimate, the typical NFT transaction generated 48 kg of CO2, equal to 18 gallons of fuel. However, one of the biggest changes the metaverse allows is eliminating or reducing business travel. During the pandemic, the number of meetings, workshops and conferences online increased dramatically, and the metaverse provides an easy tool where all the aforementioned activities can be held.

Blockchains

Polygon — By permanently retiring $400,000 in carbon credits to offset 104,794 tonnes of greenhouse gases emitted since the inception of its blockchain, Polygon, the leading Ethereum scaling platform onboarding millions to Web3, announced its network has achieved carbon neutrality and is on the road to becoming carbon negative. Before Ethereum switches to a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, which will cut the network’s energy consumption by roughly 99%, Polygon makes a commitment to sustainability. After Ethereum switches to PoS and the CCRI analysis is finished, Polygon will surpass carbon neutrality and become carbon negative.

Tezos — An efficient Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain is Tezos. With scalable, secure open-source code that platforms can use to create games, apps, and NFTs with faster transaction times and lower carbon footprints, it provides an ecologically friendly alternative to conventional blockchains.

Social Sustainability

Source: archdaily.com

We must not lose sight of the necessity of creating an open, welcoming, and fair metaverse. Instead of trying to retrofit virtual worlds after exponential expansion, now is the moment to incorporate sustainability into their initial design. In order to fully comprehend what customers’ needs and desires are with regard to technology, it is also necessary for technology businesses and the wide range of possible users to work together. The metaverse may become more inexpensive and open to equal access as a result.

Therefore, Social Sustainability lies within the lines of accessibility, making the metaverse a tool that is useful for many different purposes for a myriad of reasons and people, while keeping them safe. Earlier last year New York Times mentioned that [Virtual] reality plunges people into an all-encompassing digital environment where unwanted touches in the digital world can be made to feel real and the sensory experience is heightened,” emphasizing the importance of keeping the digital users safe.