Our continuous process of finding ways to breathe new life into NFTs

Energy is consumed in three main areas across the tech sector: Data centres, data transmission networks, manufacture and use of devices. Whilst digitisation is often the answer to everything due to the convenience the process brings to our everyday processes, we must consider its environmental implications. We generate roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily, and data centres already consume about 200 TWh of energy per year (ie. around 0.8% of global electricity use). The amount of energy required by the technology sector is increasing steadily by 8% every year. Furthermore, digital technologies are already responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and this is expected to double by 2025.

This is digital waste, the environmental consequence of data-driven infrastructure that gives rise to poor data stewardship. It is also synonymous with data waste: the long-term effects of storing vast amounts of information in a digital format.

The ever-increasing amount of data collected requires more storage space, increased production of storage drives to store such information. The result? Carbon emissions, natural resource extraction, waste production, and even higher energy consumption. Yes, we can improve energy efficiency or use renewable energy sources — but we also need to think about the complete lifecycle that energy has within our societies, adding up the overall impact of a product from creation to disposal. Everything we build requires energy, but certain practices prevent energy waste.

Over the last decade, storage of data — from emails, pictures, video and audio files, has increased exponentially. Much of this data is quickly becoming digital waste, forgotten yet stored. In 2021, Bloomberg found that nearly $41 billion worth of cryptocurrency was moved across Ethereum’s NFT marketplaces and wallets. Hundreds of thousands of collections, featuring millions of digital files are quickly piling up in wallets around the world.

The NFT space is quickly becoming a digital dumping ground for files that will require more energy to maintain. Again, whilst we can take steps to mitigate the situation around energy, there has yet to be a clear solution for the management of NFT data, or the disposal of NFTs.

Question — What happens to this data when we no longer want it? Nothing.

The underpinning infrastructure of NFTs continues to leave behind digital waste, consuming energy and generating carbon emissions. This is on top of the energy and emissions involved in the minting of NFTS, and mining of cryptocurrencies to purchase them.

Emerge and The MetaBlazers are partnering to create a market to breathe new life into forgotten tokens and NFTs. Collectors looking to support impact projects in Web3 can donate NFTs or tokens to our Ethereum-based Compost Wallet. Together, Emerge and MetaBlazers will leverage them to raise funds that will directly sponsor causes, groups, and projects looking to experiment with blockchain for their communities, causes, and organisations, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

If you have NFTs that:

• Have been forgotten or left behind

• You no longer need or want

• Are not providing value or impact

We would love to take them off your hands and put them to good use. Please donate them to our Compost Wallet and help us advance the UN SDGs.

Our primary focus will be on groups, communities, and organisations that are working on impact causes related to the UN SDGs, but are not yet able to experiment with blockchain. Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of blockchain in projects that could benefit from the technology but lack the knowledge, resources, and capacity to experiment with it on their own.

Our first funded project will be announced soon. All supported projects will be trackable via a custom, public dashboard featuring financial information, impact targets, and more.

Our sincere gratitude to our partner, the MetaBlazers and their generous community members.

Let’s make a difference together one project at a time.

Andrea So,

Head of Insights at Emerge

ENS Domain: compostwallet.eth

Follow our journey on Etherscan.

Please contact us at hello@emergetechlab.com for any large-scale donations, corporate support, or partnership interest.

If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to support us by subscribing and collecting it in your wallet!

To learn more about what we do, be sure to check out our website https://www.emergetechlab.com/

1. https://harvardilj.org/2020/04/data-waste/

2. https://revolutionized.com/digital-waste

3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=719653f460ba

4. https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/environmental-impacts-digital-technologies-george-kamiya/

5. https://earth.org/digital-sobriety-how-the-internet-is-harming-the-environment/#:~:text=Digital%20technologies%20are%20responsible%20for,1.6kgs%20of%20carbon%20emissions.

Our continuous process of finding ways to breathe new life into NFTs

Energy is consumed in three main areas across the tech sector: Data centres, data transmission networks, manufacture and use of devices. Whilst digitisation is often the answer to everything due to the convenience the process brings to our everyday processes, we must consider its environmental implications. We generate roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data daily, and data centres already consume about 200 TWh of energy per year (ie. around 0.8% of global electricity use). The amount of energy required by the technology sector is increasing steadily by 8% every year. Furthermore, digital technologies are already responsible for 4% of greenhouse gas emissions, and this is expected to double by 2025.

This is digital waste, the environmental consequence of data-driven infrastructure that gives rise to poor data stewardship. It is also synonymous with data waste: the long-term effects of storing vast amounts of information in a digital format.

The ever-increasing amount of data collected requires more storage space, increased production of storage drives to store such information. The result? Carbon emissions, natural resource extraction, waste production, and even higher energy consumption. Yes, we can improve energy efficiency or use renewable energy sources — but we also need to think about the complete lifecycle that energy has within our societies, adding up the overall impact of a product from creation to disposal. Everything we build requires energy, but certain practices prevent energy waste.

Over the last decade, storage of data — from emails, pictures, video and audio files, has increased exponentially. Much of this data is quickly becoming digital waste, forgotten yet stored. In 2021, Bloomberg found that nearly $41 billion worth of cryptocurrency was moved across Ethereum’s NFT marketplaces and wallets. Hundreds of thousands of collections, featuring millions of digital files are quickly piling up in wallets around the world.

The NFT space is quickly becoming a digital dumping ground for files that will require more energy to maintain. Again, whilst we can take steps to mitigate the situation around energy, there has yet to be a clear solution for the management of NFT data, or the disposal of NFTs.

Question — What happens to this data when we no longer want it? Nothing.

The underpinning infrastructure of NFTs continues to leave behind digital waste, consuming energy and generating carbon emissions. This is on top of the energy and emissions involved in the minting of NFTS, and mining of cryptocurrencies to purchase them.

Emerge and The MetaBlazers are partnering to create a market to breathe new life into forgotten tokens and NFTs. Collectors looking to support impact projects in Web3 can donate NFTs or tokens to our Ethereum-based Compost Wallet. Together, Emerge and MetaBlazers will leverage them to raise funds that will directly sponsor causes, groups, and projects looking to experiment with blockchain for their communities, causes, and organisations, in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

If you have NFTs that:

• Have been forgotten or left behind

• You no longer need or want

• Are not providing value or impact

We would love to take them off your hands and put them to good use. Please donate them to our Compost Wallet and help us advance the UN SDGs.

Our primary focus will be on groups, communities, and organisations that are working on impact causes related to the UN SDGs, but are not yet able to experiment with blockchain. Our goal is to accelerate the adoption of blockchain in projects that could benefit from the technology but lack the knowledge, resources, and capacity to experiment with it on their own.

Our first funded project will be announced soon. All supported projects will be trackable via a custom, public dashboard featuring financial information, impact targets, and more.

Our sincere gratitude to our partner, the MetaBlazers and their generous community members.

Let’s make a difference together one project at a time.

Andrea So,

Head of Insights at Emerge

ENS Domain: compostwallet.eth

Follow our journey on Etherscan.

Please contact us at hello@emergetechlab.com for any large-scale donations, corporate support, or partnership interest.

If you enjoyed reading this article, feel free to support us by subscribing and collecting it in your wallet!

To learn more about what we do, be sure to check out our website https://www.emergetechlab.com/

1. https://harvardilj.org/2020/04/data-waste/

2. https://revolutionized.com/digital-waste

3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2018/05/21/how-much-data-do-we-create-every-day-the-mind-blowing-stats-everyone-should-read/?sh=719653f460ba

4. https://www.resources.org/resources-radio/environmental-impacts-digital-technologies-george-kamiya/

5. https://earth.org/digital-sobriety-how-the-internet-is-harming-the-environment/#:~:text=Digital%20technologies%20are%20responsible%20for,1.6kgs%20of%20carbon%20emissions.