Details: Joanie Lemercier (@joanielemercier), a French digital artist, cancelled the sale of his six NFT art pieces in April 2021, after calculating that the sale would consume the electricity, required to power the artist’s studio for two years, in just ten seconds as NFTs consume a lot of energy because they rely on a block chain. How it works: The majority of creators continue to use Ethereum, a block chain that uses a proof-of-work system, similar to Bitcoin. Mining is a computational function that uses a lot of energy. Expert mining computers take turns guessing the digital lock’s combination and then the computer that successfully predicts the combination receives a payout in Ether, a crypto currency. The competition continues as the digital lock resets every 15 seconds and Ethereum keeps on consuming over 31 terawatt-hours of electricity every year, roughly the same as Nigeria. The alternative: Alternative technologies exist that allow NFT markets to operate without the carbon burden. As these transactions take place on a more centralized platform with lower prices, side chains consume very little energy to process NFTs. The Currency Project, a series of NFTs by Damien Hirst (@damienhirst) was released on September 13, 2021 utilizing side chain.