How Does the Energy Consumption of Proof-of-Work Compare to Proof-of-Stake Consensus Mechanisms?

Proof-of-Work (PoW) consumes vastly more energy than Proof-of-Stake (PoS). PoW requires miners to run powerful hardware in a constant, competitive race to solve complex puzzles.

PoS, conversely, uses a mechanism where validators are chosen based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have "staked" as collateral. The computational effort in PoS is minimal, leading to a reduction in energy consumption by an estimated 99.95% compared to PoW.