4 ms·

The site overestimates power consumption by 2-3x, because it gets the estimate from BECI which is grossly flawed: http://blog.zorinaq.com/serious-faults-in-beci

by mrb 9y ago

The site overestimates power consumption by 2-3x, because it gets the estimate from BECI which is grossly flawed: http://blog.zorinaq.com/serious-faults-in-beci/ http://blog.zorinaq.com/serious-faults-in-beci/ (Disclosure: I am the author of this critic) In really Bitcoin's power consumption is ~500 MW as of 3 months ago, which is less than the amount of electricity spent on decorative Christmas lights in the US: http://blog.zorinaq.com/bitcoin-electricity-consumption/ http://blog.zorinaq.com/bitcoin-electricity-consumption/

pkulak 9y ago
And BC's current transaction rate is a rounding error. If it ever becomes popular for more than crime and tax evasion, that's as lot of Christmas lights. Also, Christmas lights can use a lot of power. Your example reminds me of those electric heater ads that say their product uses as much power as a coffee maker.
- biafra 9y ago
  The transaction rate is not proportinal to the amount of power consumed.
  - eru 9y ago
    Not directly. More popularity will lead to higher bitcoin prices, and that will indirectly to more power consumption for hashing until no-arbitrage equilibrium is restored.
- oculusthrift 9y ago
  don't worry it won't
- mrb 9y ago
  "BC's current transaction rate is a rounding error." It is still increasing at a rate that would make most startups jealous when they look at their own growth rate: https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=2years&daysAverageString=7 https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=2year... "If it ever becomes popular for more than crime and tax evasion, that's as lot of Christmas lights." It's already more popular than that. Bitcoin is no longer driven principally by "sin" activities: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2808762 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2808762 And see the nice growth in various areas: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin#Growth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin#Growth

by mrb 9y ago

pkulak 9y ago

And BC's current transaction rate is a rounding error. If it ever becomes popular for more than crime and tax evasion, that's as lot of Christmas lights. Also, Christmas lights can use a lot of power. Your example reminds me of those electric heater ads that say their product uses as much power as a coffee maker.

biafra 9y ago
The transaction rate is not proportinal to the amount of power consumed.
- eru 9y ago
  Not directly. More popularity will lead to higher bitcoin prices, and that will indirectly to more power consumption for hashing until no-arbitrage equilibrium is restored.
oculusthrift 9y ago
don't worry it won't
mrb 9y ago
"BC's current transaction rate is a rounding error." It is still increasing at a rate that would make most startups jealous when they look at their own growth rate: https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=2years&daysAverageString=7 https://blockchain.info/charts/n-transactions?timespan=2year... "If it ever becomes popular for more than crime and tax evasion, that's as lot of Christmas lights." It's already more popular than that. Bitcoin is no longer driven principally by "sin" activities: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2808762 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2808762 And see the nice growth in various areas: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin#Growth https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_bitcoin#Growth