4 ms·

At one ton of CO2 per megawatt hour, we could be looking at 2 million tons CO2 a year. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11 https://www.eia.gov/too

At one ton of CO2 per megawatt hour, we could be looking at 2 million tons CO2 a year. https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11 https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=74&t=11 100 gallons of gasoline also creates a ton of CO2 for context.

pmorici 10y ago
You are assuming the mining electricity comes predominately from fossil fuels which couldn't be further from reality. In reality the cheapest power is often in areas where hydroelectric is the dominate power source and miners choose their location based on availability of cheap power. Look at Washington State for example. It's a major producer of hydropower, has the cheapest electric rates in the US, and has a large number of Bitcoin mining facilities. Even in China it holds true that many mining facilities are in areas supplied by hydro electric power.
- mrb 10y ago
  Author here. You are absolutely right. Petroleum- or coal-produced electricity is typically too expensive for miners.
  - bitxbitxbitcoin 10y ago
    Thanks for authoring this!
    - mrb 10y ago
      Glad you liked it!
  - jankotek 10y ago
    Petrol is very cheap in Venezuela and some other countries.
    - mrb 10y ago
      Indeed. I know of a medium-size 55nm Bitfury farm in Venezuela. But as others pointed out, most miners are not located in Venezuela. In fact Venezuelan authorities are cracking down on mining farms, and have shut this one down - https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-authorities-weakening-bitcoin-mining-operations/ https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-authorities-weakening-bi...
- api 10y ago
  Power grids are big. Using hydro for mining means more fossil fuel must be burned elsewhere to make up for inability to import hydro. To give an example of just how big: Los Angeles metro imports power from Washington and Oregon via a HVDC line.
  - mrb 10y ago
    "Using hydro for mining means more fossil fuel must be burned" Not necessarily. More renewables being used usually means more investments in renewable power are made.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
npongratz 10y ago
> 100 gallons of gasoline also creates a ton of CO2 for context. I thought I understood the Law of Conservation of Mass, but I guess I do not. If 100 gallons of gasoline has a mass of ~283.49 kg [0], how is a ton of carbon dioxide created from this? [0] Maybe I'm wrong to use the first site that came up, but I used http://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substance/gasoline http://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substanc...
- DougBTX 10y ago
  Gasoline mostly contains carbon, the oxygen in carbon dioxide comes from the air, adding to the final mass of carbon dioxide.
- schwabacher 10y ago
  Carbon atoms from the gasoline each combine with two oxygen atoms from the air to produce a carbon dioxide molecule, meaning the bulk of the mass of the resulting co2 actually comes from the atmosphere.
- c517402 10y ago
  When an ~6 lb US gallon of no-ethanol gasoline is burned, it produces ~20 lbs of CO2 and ~8 lbs of H2O. The extra 22 lbs coming from oxygen in the air.

pmorici 10y ago

You are assuming the mining electricity comes predominately from fossil fuels which couldn't be further from reality. In reality the cheapest power is often in areas where hydroelectric is the dominate power source and miners choose their location based on availability of cheap power. Look at Washington State for example. It's a major producer of hydropower, has the cheapest electric rates in the US, and has a large number of Bitcoin mining facilities. Even in China it holds true that many mining facilities are in areas supplied by hydro electric power.

mrb 10y ago
Author here. You are absolutely right. Petroleum- or coal-produced electricity is typically too expensive for miners.
- bitxbitxbitcoin 10y ago
  Thanks for authoring this!
  - mrb 10y ago
    Glad you liked it!
- jankotek 10y ago
  Petrol is very cheap in Venezuela and some other countries.
  - mrb 10y ago
    Indeed. I know of a medium-size 55nm Bitfury farm in Venezuela. But as others pointed out, most miners are not located in Venezuela. In fact Venezuelan authorities are cracking down on mining farms, and have shut this one down - https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-authorities-weakening-bitcoin-mining-operations/ https://news.bitcoin.com/venezuelan-authorities-weakening-bi...
api 10y ago
Power grids are big. Using hydro for mining means more fossil fuel must be burned elsewhere to make up for inability to import hydro. To give an example of just how big: Los Angeles metro imports power from Washington and Oregon via a HVDC line.
- mrb 10y ago
  "Using hydro for mining means more fossil fuel must be burned" Not necessarily. More renewables being used usually means more investments in renewable power are made.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

npongratz 10y ago

> 100 gallons of gasoline also creates a ton of CO2 for context. I thought I understood the Law of Conservation of Mass, but I guess I do not. If 100 gallons of gasoline has a mass of ~283.49 kg [0], how is a ton of carbon dioxide created from this? [0] Maybe I'm wrong to use the first site that came up, but I used http://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substance/gasoline http://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight/substanc...

DougBTX 10y ago
Gasoline mostly contains carbon, the oxygen in carbon dioxide comes from the air, adding to the final mass of carbon dioxide.
schwabacher 10y ago
Carbon atoms from the gasoline each combine with two oxygen atoms from the air to produce a carbon dioxide molecule, meaning the bulk of the mass of the resulting co2 actually comes from the atmosphere.
c517402 10y ago
When an ~6 lb US gallon of no-ethanol gasoline is burned, it produces ~20 lbs of CO2 and ~8 lbs of H2O. The extra 22 lbs coming from oxygen in the air.