For those unfamiliar with the energy involved in minting an NFT, here's some info that may satisfy you or urge you to dig deeper and learn more:

​

I opted to mint this NFT on the Cardano blockchain and here's why:

​

"[...] Cardano is 1.6 million times more energy-efficient than Bitcoin," said CEO of IOHK (Cardano's parent company), Charles Hoskinson. Cardano blockchain uses a "proof-of-stake" consensus mechanism while Bitcoin blockchain uses the energy-intensive "proof-of-work" model. 

“The advantage of proof of stake is that because you don’t have that gargantuan overhead and energy expenditure for deciding who gets to make a block, it means you can put a lot of your magic in the other two stages. So you end up getting protocols that are much lighter and massively more energy efficient. Cardano, for example, is 1.6 million times more energy-efficient at the moment than bitcoin.” adds Hoskinson.

 Source: https://cardanofeed.com/cardano-is-more-energy-efficient-than-bitcoin-says-founder-2481.html

​

According to LeafScore.com, Cardano ranks at #3 on the "most sustainable cryptocurrency" list. I'm afraid I have no idea YET how to mint an NFT on the Solana blockchain (which uses both the above-mentioned SolarCoin and POWR as its cryptocurrencies). But when I do, that's where I'll be minting, unless another even more energy-efficient blockchain is created where I can mint my NFTs!! (FYI, "Minting" just means "creating" in this context.)
Source: leafscore.com

​

The difference between the much higher energy-consuming blockchains and those requiring less energy to perform lies in their "proof of work" (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc.) vs. "proof of stake" (Cardano, Polkadot, EOSIO blockchain) models. 

​

Here's what I came across during my research that I feel is necessary to help explain the difference in blockchain energy consumption: 

 

Proof of Stake Vs. Proof of Work Overview

With proof of work (POW), cryptocurrency miners* compete against each other to solve a complex problem using high-powered computers. Those first to do so are given the authority to add the new block of transactions and then rewarded with digital currency for their work. When a block is authenticated, it’s added to the blockchain.
 

With proof of stake (POS), miners have to pledge a "stake" of digital currency before they can validate transactions. A miner’s capacity to validate blocks depends on how many coins they have put up for stake and how long they have been validating transactions. The more coins they own, the more power they have for mining. The miner chosen for each transaction is chosen randomly through a weighted algorithm that takes the miners' relative power into account.
 

Proof of work requires increasingly fast computers, the use of significant energy resources, and processes that eventually slow down transaction times as a cryptocurrency network grows. Proof of stake was developed as an alternative to proof of work because of concern about how much energy proof of work uses, its environmental impact, its vulnerability to attacks, and questions about its scalability.

​Source: SeekingAlpha.com.   

​

*Mining is the process that Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies use to generate new coins and verify new transactions. It involves vast, decentralized networks of computers around the world that verify and secure blockchains – the virtual ledgers that document cryptocurrency transactions.
Source: CoinBase.com

 

Hope this helps to clear things up a bit for you!

 

​