SUMMARY
With data breaches, fraudulent activities, and data mining affecting the Web2 world, Web3 is a top contender for a sustainable future which is secure, accessible, and user-controlled
Web3 has been a major menace to energy preservation due to the widely used Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism
Web3 may be the inherent next phase of the technological revolution, which also includes solutions that can help in improving the environment
Web2 brought evolution into the internet world with its inception and over a short period of time became a highly interactive, accessible, and easily navigable solution. Through seamless user experience and interfaces of Web2, developers were able to build upon existing models to create more innovative solutions to give rise to today’s ubiquitous, digitally-aware world.
Further, with the advent of social media and ecommerce, internet usage and penetration have only increased. People, today, can share all their precious moments with one click. There are revenue-generating business models that are solely conducted on social media such as online businesses, content creators, influencers, etc. There are diverse channels for knowledge sharing, content sharing, and marketing.
Additionally, people have started to rely on their smartphones for nearly all forms of real-world transactions such as exchanging texts, video calls, social interactions, networking, consuming a variety of content, making payments to merchants, paying bills, and more. But what do people risk for the augmenting usage and translucent online presence today?
Ranging from increasing amounts of e-waste to data privacy and monopoly, humans have advanced from looking at technology as the next big invention to a necessary evil. With problems such as data breaches, fraudulent activities, and data mining to influence consumer behaviour affecting the Web2 world, Web3 has emerged as a top contender for a sustainable future which is secure, accessible, and user-controlled.
Web3 may be the inherent next phase of the technological revolution, which also includes solutions that can help in improving the environment, preventing climate change, augmenting sustainable development and advocating the green revolution.
Energy Conservation Efforts
Energy conservation has been one of the chief goals for the world governments for quite a few years now and Web3 has been a major menace to energy preservation due to the widely used Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism. On the other hand, the other option, Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus, is capitalistic, non-scalable, and insecure.
A revolutionary and innovative solution is a Proof of Context (PoXT) mechanism, a novel consensus algorithm which is based on a participant-centric ordering mechanism and provides a sustainable ecosystem. Additionally, PoXT provides true decentralisation and security benefits of a leaderless consensus, like PoW as well as the quick, simple and efficient benefits of a leader-based consensus, like PoS. This combines the best of both approaches without their drawbacks to create a simple and sustainable long-term solution.
Furthermore, there are several Web2 elements whose excessive energy consumption has been flying discreetly under the radar of climate activists and administrations. Email service providers, for example, are responsible for excessive amounts of carbon emissions every time an email is sent with an attachment. According to sources, a normal email generates a carbon dioxide footprint of 4g and a long attachment can raise it to as high as 50g of CO2e.
Apart from that, there are numerous known security and privacy issues associated with sharing private documents, images, or videos over email. The large data centres across the world that process and store each email are the leading culprits of these issues.
Furthering Data Privacy
These further carry the threats of data hijacks and breaches and one can never guarantee privacy or limit the information from spreading. With Web3 in the mix, there would be a sustainable way to mitigate these issues. As the inherent nature of the technology is immutability, one can be assured of the security surrounding the information and the transparency would prevent unnecessary duplication of documents. Also, there could be limited access to a particular document or piece of information, depending on the conditions inbuilt into the code by the sender.
Web3 storage is another rapidly growing market which allows decentralised storage options that are scalable, cheap, and provide a secure and private network that lessens the risk of personal information leaking considerably. Public figures have been a prime target for similar hacks and shifting to Web3 storage can help reduce these malicious threats on a large scale. Furthermore, cloud computing has now become a saturated industry with a handful of networks having a market majority and these models are now looking at revenue models that are not sustainable and will only increase as network congestion increases.
In the traditional sphere as well, Web3 is already being explored to revolutionise how documentation is created and processed. Currently, blockchain technology is being experimented with to create personalised NFTs that can contain unchanging personal information on the chain such as educational qualifications, land ownership documents, certificates, licenses, ID cards, etc, that ensure veracity and authenticity. This would also vehemently reduce paper consumption and further push the world towards sustainable living.
The Rise Of Web3 & A Green Future
With the recent acceleration of the Web3 metaverse, another key to green living has been unlocked, where air pollution, carbon emissions, fossil fuel consumption, noise pollution, and more can be expected to be reduced.
As the world moved to an almost exclusively digital setting during the lockdowns, technology was quick to find innovative ways of interaction and networking. With the metaverse rising at record speed and becoming more realistic by the day, remote working, virtual meetings, online classes, online workshops, virtual sessions, etc, have been incorporated into the common man’s everyday life. This reduction in the use of vehicles can be a great boon for a green future and Web3 would have played a big part in its existence.
With a young demographic taking the lead in this futuristic sector, general awareness and education around climate change, energy scarcity, fossil fuel consumption, sustainability, and environmental impact have been high as compared to other sectors. Within a decade of this technology rising and breaking records, the community was already looking into bringing in sustainable forms of processes, like the Proof of Context consensus, and has made significant changes to its fundamental processes to ensure it becomes environmentally friendly sooner rather than later. A number of Web3 projects today are fully focused on having sustainable solutions that do not damage the ecosystem and are suitable to meet the long-term needs of their users.
