First, it’s true that minting NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain can currently result in the use of a lot of electricity. Like many others, I expect this issue to be drastically reduced by Ethereum’s move to the “Proof of Stake” model some time in 2021. In the meantime, I believe we have a responsibility to mitigate the negative consequences of that power consumption.

Towards that end, I have purchased 250 tons of carbon offsets from Terrapass in anticipation of my Art Blocks drop.

I was impressed by the types of projects that Terrapass supports, including wind power and landfill gas capture projects. I arrived at that number of carbon offsets based on the following calculations:

First, I followed the calculations performed here, on a page that is typically linked in order to highlight the high energy consumption of NFTs, and one that also seems to be decently well researched. In particular, I used the most pessimistic numbers from that page, 211 Kg. My goal was to err on the side of buying too many offsets. Because this program results in 1000 iterations being minted, I multiplied that number by 1000. Then, I rounded that up to the next whole “big” number to cover secondary market transactions, which put me at 250 tons.

It’s also worth mentioning that Art Blocks independently purchases enough carbon offsets to cover their estimated energy consumption, so in likelihood we’re doubling what’s required.