# Hey from Germany

**URL:** <https://forum.flow.com/t/hey-from-germany/1485>\
**Category:** New To Flow\
**Created:** [March 15, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/hey-from-germany/1485 "2021-03-15T20:48:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maxibenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@maxibenner](https://forum.flow.com/u/maxibenner)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/hey-from-germany/1485/1 "2021-03-15T20:48:00Z")

</div>

Hi, my name is Max. I’m a self taught developer and haven’t had anything to do with dApp development until now. I’m excited about the possibilities and certainly about those dev docs here. However, I am concerned about the environmental impact. I did see Flow on a list of less energy intense blockchains but couldn’t find any more info. Could anyone give me a quick primer on this?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![raphbaph](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/forum.flow.com/raphbaph/32/710_2.png) [@raphbaph](https://forum.flow.com/u/raphbaph)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 6:23am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/hey-from-germany/1485/2 "2021-03-16T06:23:27Z")

</div>

Hey Max,

FLOW uses what’s called Proof of Stake. Proof of Stake is a very different mechanism of securing the chain than Proof of Work, which you refer to, and which is employed by Bitcoin, Ethereum (currently, they’r switching at some point) and a couple of others.

You can read more here:

> **[Proof of stake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proof-of-stake)**
>
> Proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols are a class of consensus mechanisms for blockchains that work by selecting validators in proportion to their quantity of holdings in the associated cryptocurrency. This is done to avoid the computational cost of proof-of-work (POW) schemes. The first functioning use of PoS for cryptocurrency was Peercoin in 2012, although the scheme, on the surface, still resembled a POW.
> For a blockchain transaction to be recognized, it must be appended to the blockchain. In the...

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![maxibenner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@maxibenner](https://forum.flow.com/u/maxibenner)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 7:23am UTC](https://forum.flow.com/t/hey-from-germany/1485/3 "2021-03-16T07:23:47Z")

</div>

Thanks, that’s what I needed to hear! I wasn’t able to find this info until now.