On November 13, 2023, the public lecture series “Sustainability in Computer Science” will continue with the next topic.

Krzysztof Pietrzak from Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) will give a talk on “Sustainable Blockchains”.

Abstract

The Bitcoin blockchain achieves consensus in an open setting, i.e., where everyone can participate. This was believed to be impossible, the key idea to make this possible was to use computing power rather than some kind of identities for voting through “proofs of work”. Unfortunately, this approach is not sustainable: the Bitcoin blockchain burns roughly as much electricity as a country like Austria. We will outline sustainable alternatives for achieving a Bitcoin-like blockchain, with a focus on using disk-space instead of computation and how this is realized in the Chia Network blockchain.

Slides

• Krzysztof Pietrzak: Sustainable Blockchains
  PDF / 5.06 MB / 2023-11-13-Slides-Krzysztof-Pietrzak-MOD.pdf

About Lecture Series “Sustainability in Computer Science”

The Public Lecture Series is the first of its kind in Austria, with all Austrian computer science departments and faculties participating, under the auspices of Informatik Austria. We want to raise awareness for the utmost importance of sustainability in CS, demonstrating research solutions to various problems, and triggering developments for a sustainable future.

The lecture series will be held online every Monday from 17:00-18:00. One hybrid session takes place on January 8, 2024, on-site at TU Wien and online.

Students from participating universities can register to get credits for the series. Please refer to your respective institution for registration.

TU Wien students can register for VU 194.155 “Sustainability in Computer Science” via TISS. Depending on your study program, the lecture series is a free elective or a “Wahlpflichtfach”, please refer to TISS for further information.

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