In the Aave network, gas is used to facilitate transactions and smart contract executions on the Ethereum blockchain. Gas is paid in ETH, and its cost is determined by the level of network congestion and the complexity of the transaction.

When it comes to voting by delegates in the Aave network, gas is required to submit and execute a vote. Delegates are individuals or entities who hold AAVE tokens and have been elected to represent the interests of the community in the Aave governance process. They are responsible for proposing, voting on, and implementing changes to the Aave protocol.

To cast a vote, a delegate must first submit a transaction to the Ethereum network, which requires gas. The gas cost for a vote may vary depending on the complexity of the proposal being voted on and the number of other transactions in the Ethereum mempool. Once the transaction is included in a block, the delegate's vote is recorded on the blockchain and tallied with the votes of other delegates.

In summary, gas is an essential component of the Aave governance process and is necessary for delegates to participate in the voting process. The cost of gas can vary depending on network congestion and transaction complexity, but it is ultimately determined by the Ethereum network.

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In order to find the delegate voters, first, the distinct users who had acted as delegatees were extracted from the "fact_decoded_event_logs" in Ethereum tables and by filtering according to contract addresses of both AAVE and stkAAVeE. Later on, these accounts were used to trace their votes and gas being used by them in other tables, mostly Aave tables.

The values have been obtained and compared for the past two quarters separately, both on a daily basis and in total.

In the following bar charts, total gas used, number of votes, average gas used, and average gas prices of the past 180 days are displayed in the following charts. There is a substantial decline in the total amount of used gas and the number of votes in the last 90 days, but the average amount is slightly higher than in the first 90 days. However, the average gas price is much more significant in the second period.

The pie chart on the right displays the percentage of gas used in the voting process regarding each token in the past 180 days. The gas use relating to the stkAVEE token accounts for almost 80 percent of to total amount.

The amount of gas used in the voting process is shown on a daily basis in the following charts. In the first chart, the values pertaining to the two intervals can be easily identified by different colors. A general decrease in gas use can be recognized in the second period.

In the next chart, the bar charts are divided regarding the tokens. As mentioned in the total amounts, most of the gas used belongs to the stkAAVE token.

The following two charts show the average gas price and the gas used per vote in the past 180 days. The gas price fluctuates substantially, but the average gas used for each vote has almost a constant value of about 100k.

In summary, there has been a decrease in the quantity of gas utilized over the last 90 days, primarily due to an increase in the number of votes cast. However, during the same period, the cost of each vote has risen. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the majority of gas usage can be attributed to the stkAAVE tokens rather than the AAVE tokens. This indicates that the stkAAVE tokens are being utilized more frequently, resulting in higher gas consumption. Overall, these trends suggest that there may be changes in the usage patterns of both tokens in the future, with the stkAAVE token potentially playing a more prominent role in the network's activity.

The top 10 delegates with the most gas used in the past 180 days are displayed in the following table. Moreover, the number of votes by each of them is shown.