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> At the end of the day your computer is no different from an expensive space heater. Might as well mine some crypto with it. Or, you know, you could just turn
by season2episode3 6y ago
> At the end of the day your computer is no different from an expensive space heater. Might as well mine some crypto with it.
Or, you know, you could just turn the computer off while you're not actively using it. It saves you money and does a small little good thing for the environment too.
- trixie_ 6y agoThat is why I made the analogy to a space heater - because mining would be a free side benefit of something you actively use to keep warm. The environmental impact is also negligible if the power you're using is coming from solar or wind.
- Klinky 6y agoAn idle computer clocks down and sips power. Going full bore mining coins results in significant power usage increases. We're talking 10 watts vs 100s of watts.
- trixie_ 6y agoSmall space heaters run at 750 watts on the low setting.
- qes 6y agoA single Bitcoin miner runs at 1500w on its only setting and sounds like a small aircraft preparing for takeoff.
- beervirus 6y agoThat matters if you live in Texas. It doesn't matter if you live above the Arctic Circle.
- thebean11 6y agoRight but if your goal is to heat your apartment (and your alternative heat source is also electric) running the computer is a pretty efficient heat source.
- contravariant 6y agoWell, efficient is hardly the right phrase. When it comes to heating using electricity then 100% efficiency is on the low side. A heat pump could be many times more efficient.
- lalaland1125 6y agoI just also want to add that gas heating is also effectively >100% efficient relative to electricity because there are no losses incurred on the power generation side.
- a1369209993 6y agoThat depends on how you're making that gas. IIRC algae (the primary ingredient in most fossile fuels) are less than 10% efficient at converting sunlight into chemical energy after metabolic expenditures. (There's also the part where the sun is <<0.00001% efficent at turning fusion energy into sunlight-that-hits-earth, but that problem isn't specific to gas heating.)
- londons_explore 6y agoIt is sad that "heat" and "efficiency" are defined like this... "100% efficiency" should be the Carnot's theorem efficiency limit...
- vzzvzsz 6y agoefficient
- perl4ever 6y agoWhat people say is that all electric heat is equally efficient in the sense that all the delivered watts ultimately become heat, but at least in the general area where I live, electric heat of any kind is not efficient in the sense that it is significantly more expensive than burning fuel (natural gas, oil, etc.) at home.
- CalmStorm 6y agoThe other common misconception is that the price of bitcoin is determined by the hashrate. It is actually the other way around, a higher price drives up the hashrate, because a higher price means more demand for bitcoin. Some founders of altcoins apparently don't understand this and try to buy hashpower to artificially increase the hashrate, hoping to increase the price of their coins. If there is no demand for their coins, an ASIC farm is no different from a Rasberry Pi.
- srl 6y agoWait... isn't it worse than that? If I buy enough hashpower to have a measurable effect on the price, shouldn't the price be driven down, by the increased supply? Thus an ASIC farm is worse than a raspberry pi, at least as far as the effect on price goes. (But, isn't there some majority attack? So maybe I want an ASIC farm as a way to protect my investment...)
- jes5199 6y agono, the mining difficulty self-adjusts, so the supply is only increased for a very brief time
- kcolford 6y agoNo because the supply is fixed in time
- garmaine 6y agoThe supply is fixed in number of blocks, not time.
- trixie_ 6y agoSupply of what? The supply increase of coins is constant regardless of the hashrate. This is exactly why there was no effect on bitcoin price when the reward rate halved. The value of the coin drives mining behavior, not the other way around.
- 6y ago
- vmception 6y agoThe image of people mining in their residences is the furthest from the truth about crypto mining. It uses primarily renewable resources or is repurposing pollution directly. This is the only economical way to mine. The vast majority of mining power is done this way, upwards of 80%. How much energy is being used is a purposeful misdirection.
- srib 6y agoThat argument, unfortunately, is a slippery slope. One could list a gazillion things that are good for the environment. The environment argument against Bitcoin has been thoroughly debunked. There are several valid points of criticism against Bitcoin. I wish more effort is put into it to criticize it along those fronts.
- redis_mlc 6y ago> The environment argument against Bitcoin has been thoroughly debunked. Nonsense, every bitcoin mined is unnecessary for the environment.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]