Why We Must #DYODR On Sustainability and Energy Innovation around Crypto and NFTS | Episode 219

Kevin Sturmer 0:00
You’re listening to NFT 365. The first daily podcast on NFT is with your host Fanzo, talking crypto, blockchain, web 3, non-fungible tokens, metaverse, and

What the f*ck is a non-fungible token?

We’ll get to that. It’s time for today’s episode of NFT 365. The only daily NFT podcast minting an NF T every day for 365 days. Powered by the ADHD coin at rally.io. Here’s your host and digital futurist, the ADHD superpowered to Brian Fanzo.

This show is not financial advice. So, do your own damn research.

Brian Fanzo 0:43

What’s up friends welcome back to another NFT 365. And just got a big shout out you know, we’ve OUR DISCORD has been really just amazing place over these last many weeks and I know I’ve been traveling and been a little busy and occupied and you know it’s so been so much fun to see you just shout out to our amazing community managers shelter so many of you that have jumped in, you know, many of you are newer to the podcast or new to our Discord. I always love seeing like, Hey, I’ve been listening to podcasts for months. finally decide to jump in the discord. I just want to give a big shout out to all of those in the discord. You know, also shout out to all those that are coming up to NFT NYC. And of course, if you’re not coming to NFT NYC, which really is kind of like the big Super Bowl, or it’s the South by Southwest of web three at the moment. You know, make sure you’re checking out the hashtags and unfortunately on Twitter, hashtags can be a little confusing at NFT events. So or at any event really period and this is a little bit of a rant for me but just really want to you want to search a how chat hashtag NFT NYC hashtag NF T NYC 2022 and probably NFT NYC 22. And you know if there’s others that are dyslexia like me and might tweet out, NYC NFT. You might wanna check that one as well but lots of good information will be shared. I know lots of activations videos, we’re gonna have our team they’re gonna be sharing into the discord on our Twitter channel on our Instagram stories make sure you’re following the podcast we are active over on Facebook we are active on Instagram we are active on the Twitter’s as well, just under the same name pretty keep keep it simple, stupid here @NFT365Podcast. So make sure you check us out. And you know this funny this today’s episode. You know, this topic has come up a bunch. But it’s been so interesting to me because I feel like like where data is very present. And I always tweet out the blockchain doesn’t lie, or I think it’s I say the blockchain don’t lie. But the blockchain doesn’t lie. One of the narratives that’s been spread for a long while is about how bad for the environment, the blockchain is, and the like, the design of the technology and how, how inefficient it is. And, you know, I’ve always, you know, I believe we need to be better than we have in the past, I believe that we have to learn from our mistakes of not, you know, setting ourselves up to protect the environment and the world around us. You know, I do believe we have to be consciously consciously aware of that. But I think we also have to be very careful with like, the assumptions and the way that we label things or even how we hear things. Like there are some in some brands that have contacted us to work with us. And they say, like, hey, we can’t, you know, we can’t move forward, or we’re not gonna be able to deploy this unless we find an energy efficient blockchain. But that’s also the same brand that is paying for a digital billboard in New York City that rotates 24 hours a day.

Brian Fanzo 3:43
The other thing to think about is like the the dryers, just in the our country, the USA, the you know, our washer and dryer setup that we use, that actually consumes more energy, then all of the blockchains does. Now, the other piece of this and I’m gonna pull in actually found a report that was shared out and it’s from the value chain Pro and it was a report it was pulled out a month and a half ago, and they did some research, you know, kind of comparing bitcoins consumption through proof of work, consensus, consensus mechanisms, and they said based on physics, Information Science and Economics, they compare the energy consumption and define what it is what is the energy efficiency of both the current monetary payment systems and Bitcoin and they’ve actually found that Bitcoin consumes 56 times less energy than the classic systems that that would that we are familiar with as far as POS systems, you know, the, the point of sale systems and also that the proof of work transaction proves To be one to five times more energy efficient. And so, of course, this is talking blockchain. But we can also kind of dive, you know, throw that into this NFT space, right? Because there is something to be said about the proof of work blockchain mechanisms within the underneath of an NFT where the gas prices and the mining, that it could actually be more efficient. I know, there’s lots of ways that we’re working on that we’re excited for some of the things that are that are coming down the pipe. But yes, the the idea that we use lots of computers to solve lots of complex problems, right, that’s where the mining goes. But not only do not are not all blockchains built the same. But there’s also this idea of not only proof of stake, which is what Ethereum is moving to away from a proof of work environment, but we also have to be very cautious about like, you know, how do we think about energy consumption, you know, with the internet, or we think of energy consumption with our, the video games that we’re playing. And in many cases, the actual video game, the gaming that is being designed on the blockchain layer, are actually more efficient and more energy unless they produce require less energy than what we’re using today with our, between our Xbox or our current gaming solutions. The other part of this that I think is really interesting is that, you know, when we look at some of the the ways that we can identify

Brian Fanzo 6:30
you server consumption, where servers live, how this the whole thing kind of comes together, we also have to realize that the mining of Bitcoin and the mining of cryptocurrency it actually doesn’t require like, you know, farmland, it doesn’t require like the perfect environment, the perfect wind tunnel, like maybe wind does or was solar has to be in a perfect environment. And so in many cases, we can actually set up the the functionality that’s powering the blockchain, in areas of the country and in places that are currently either in and in, you know, they’re not able to live in I can’t figure out so that word in inhabitable, there we go at a slowdown from it right, slow down to go fast in an EO so we’re able to do maybe it’s, you know, the desert location, maybe it’s a location that has been over farmed, and we can actually, you know, install and be able to create mining in those areas. The other piece of this is that, you know, what, what is the consumption that we that we are replacing as far as some of these interactions, right? Like, if we think about it, like, how many times do we go, we drive to a bank, and the employees go to a bank to work? Well, if we are going driving to a bank less, and we’re able to make transactions, you know, more efficiently, right? If I want to send money to a different country, you know, shout out to the Bankless podcast they’d Kevin O’Leary on I thought Kevin O’Leary broke that down where he was talking about like, anytime he was changing, he was exchanging massive amounts of money. From like the US to Switzerland, it’s like a three day process, lots of paperwork, lots of phone calls, yet in the cryptocurrency side, not only can be done in an instant, but there’s a lot less man hours, a lot less of these things that are really, in many cases take up energy and time. And so you know, I It’s funny, I if I jump on Tik Tok, which I do just about every day, I consume mostly I just love consuming Tech, we do create some podcast content there on tick tock as well, for anyone who wants to check us out. We have both a podcast Twitter Tiktok account and @iSocialFanz, my my account. But the thing I hear I see a lot in the comments when people are hating on a celebrity or an influencer, it’s talking about crypto or talking about NFT’s is they default to like, Hey, you’re ruining the environment. And hey, there’s that’s where like, people are stealing things from each other. And then they’ll say things like, yeah, that’s where, you know, people steal people’s art and make millions off of it. But we have to be very careful in these scenarios. Because in many cases, even when art is being stolen, we’re we’re like, we’re making it as if art is not been stolen forever. But now we’re actually giving ways that that artists can actually add residual, you know, you know, payments and residual percentages, you know, in perpetuity. And sorry, that

Brian Fanzo 9:19
was my alarm, it is 1:40pm, which means it is at our all time and just for those that are, you know, great time to take a check for your mental health. It’s also you know, it’s removed the biases and stigmas around medication and that that world as well. But I want to I just want to put this out there is that, you know, some of the token some of the methodology that we’re using is actually going to improve things. Some things that we are currently using by default, could be improved on and that’s why we need to think about, but we also have to listen for understanding why are people saying and bringing that up? For some people is because they care about the environment. They only drive a Tesla they don’t Do a washer and dryer, they hang their clothes out on the on the line. For others, it’s kind of a nice excuse, they can kind of just, they can throw that out there. And it’s hard to, you know, for people to kind of debunk it. And then for others, it’s the weight of it, they get to avoid change, and they get to say, I don’t have to do that, or I’m not going to do it that way. Because it’s bad for the environment. And that’s like, a crutch. And I just want to make sure that that kind of very clear that, you know, when we start breaking this all down, and there’s some great resources out there, you know, one of the things that I, you know, I, I’ll put some of these couple of articles that I’ve found, you know, that, you know, Ethereum has a fixed energy consumption at a given point of time, while like a network, like a financial trading network, or, you know, a lot of these other things, the, those transactions don’t actually increase or affect energy consumption of the network, because it’s actually predetermined, right. And you can actually think of a theory and kind of like a train engine, throttled to the same speed all day long, right, it keeps running by the miners, you know, and how they’ve kind of set it up with their exchange. And then we just pay more to have our transactions, you know, up in the front of the line, not in the back of the line right in the back, we want to be closer to the front of the train, because it gets there first. And that’s why we pay more gas to get there first. And if more people are paying a higher price to get to the front of the train, then we have to pay an even higher price to get to the front of the train. That’s why the gas fees go up. But just like with gas fees, gas fees are a necessary evil in the sense that they allow us to, to secure those secure transactions, that the built the blockchain is built on. So every time that you’re you get frustrated, you’re thinking, you know, down on, you know, gas fees, think about it from the standpoint of it is really a built in, you know, it’s us a lot, it’s us, paying for the right and the ability to transact and interact without borders without limitations at the speed of light within in ways that are authenticated and minted and, and using computers and tech and power. And you know, really, technology and computers that we none of us would have even thought would be usable that along we would have access to. And the last thing I just want to say on this is like, you know, when we look at how we compare things, we also have to look at, like the things that we love, right? Our devices. And I think it’s important for us to be aware, it’s important for us to be to try to be better. But let’s also just not allow stigmas and biases and rumors and, you know, things that that let’s do like we need, we need a solution. Before we only make the problem the entire part of the conversation. And the last thing I’ll just say on this as well. And I think it’s just an important piece of you know, when we’re we’re kind of moving forward, not only on like, what is the reason for gas, but you know, when we think about like Ethereum, and the smart contracts that are built in there, there’s a lot of automation, even within a DAO, right? Decentralized autonomous organization, the autonomous element that we are allowing computers to do things for us. So that automatically that’s built in through the code that also gives us back man hours, gives us back time. And in many cases can save us from consuming other types of energy, or doing things in and doing mundane tasks that we’ve done it where we drive somewhere, we keep the power or the lights on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. So like, let’s just take a little bit step back. And also just think about it if whoever’s bringing that up to you, right? I know a lot of Gen Zers. On Tik Tok, they comment on almost all the videos that are massively successful, like complaining about that. And, and I understand that this change is difficult, and it’s hard. And for many, it’s explained poorly. But if we focus on education, we focus on empowering innovation. And if we believe together, we can work to find the most optimal solutions possible. It’s less about saying, hey, that thing sucks. It’s more about saying, Hey, I wish it could be better. And I want to be part of that solution.

Brian Fanzo 14:02
I appreciate you for being a part of this podcast. And yes, that was a professional little transition there to send us home. And just remember my friends, do your own damn research don’t like take someone’s room or someone’s information. Don’t even take this like go do your own research about energy efficiency. But don’t just do one Google search on say is are blockchains energy efficient, like go deeper than that, start to understand compare that to other transact other currency transactions, compare that to other things in our houses that we decide not to replace the things that we use. All of these things must come in come into factor and we also must understand that there are a lot of things that will we will replace with the blockchain that are not only energy consumption, but the things that that ultimately should just fall into the background. Until tomorrow, my friends, make it a great day. Cheers.

Kevin Sturmer 17:30
This show if not financial advice, so do your own damn research.