Empirical studies of power consumption in identity management systems

Abstract

The increasing interest in blockchain-based decentralized identity solutions has raised concerns regarding their energy consumption and impact on sustainability. This study addresses these concerns by conducting experiments to measure power consumption in three identity solutions based on centralized, federated, and decentralized identity models and technologies. The experiments were conducted in a controlled environment utilizing Docker containers to ensure a clean and standardized testing environment. Power consumption data was collected, and statistical analysis, including the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey's honest significant difference (HSD) test, was performed to compare the power consumption across the different identity models. The findings indicate that blockchain-based decentralized identity solutions do not necessarily consume more power than other identity solutions. This research provides valuable insights into the energy efficiency of blockchain-based decentralized identity solutions, contributing to the ongoing discourse on sustainable technologies in the field of identity management.