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Costs go down with scale; scale comes from demand. Energy on earth is not a finite, limited resource. Fossil fuels are finite, but energy is not. The earth is

Costs go down with scale; scale comes from demand. Energy on earth is not a finite, limited resource. Fossil fuels are finite, but energy is not. The earth is bombarded with more potential energy every day then we could ever spend, aka solar energy.

bryanlarsen 6y ago
There is already massive demand for energy, and massive investments in reducing the cost of energy, especially green energy. Scaling benefits come from order of magnitude increases in demand, not single digit percentage increases in demand.
- coralreef 6y ago
  So then does that make Bitcoin a huge energy wasting problem to worry about, or an insignificant toy in the bigger picture?
  - bryanlarsen 6y ago
    A single digit percentage of a massive number is still a massive number.
PragmaticPulp 6y ago
At this point you’re just tossing out unrelated statements without even trying to tie them back to an argument. Yes, the Earth is bombarded with a lot of sunlight. So what? Doesn’t change the fact that Bitcoin is consuming existing electricity infrastructure that we could be using for something else.
- coralreef 6y ago
  Electricity gets generated and either consumed or wasted. Bitcoin eats excess available supply. What problems do you want to throw energy at that is economically viable?
  - TomSwirly 6y ago
    > Electricity gets generated and either consumed or wasted. Bitcoin eats excess available supply. :-o Is this... a joke? Your claim is that production exists, regardless of demand? That simply isn't the case.
    - coralreef 6y ago
      A waterfall power-plant produces energy 24/7 whether the townspeople are awake or not. They consume energy in the form of electricity during the day. At night, they have no need for it shut off the turbines. This is unused and uncaptured energy that could have been put to use. The potential energy is "wasted" because the infrastructure is underutilized, the energy could not be preserved. This is starting to change as battery technology improves and makes it economically feasible to store energy. Otherwise, energy consuming applications could consume this supply, providing return to the townspeople's investment.
      - maxerickson 6y ago
        Sometimes they turn the waterfall up and down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Control_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Control_Dam And then most of the rest of the time, cheap, reliable power would get consumed by the grid.
wwarner 6y ago
The amount of sunlight reaching the earth is 1.365 kilo watts per square meter [0]. Fossil fuels are stored solar energy; wind, hydroelectric and of course solar is derived from sunlight. Nuclear doesn't have this limit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight#Total_solar_irradiance_(TSI)_and_spectral_solar_irradiance_(SSI)_upon_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight#Total_solar_irradianc...

bryanlarsen 6y ago

There is already massive demand for energy, and massive investments in reducing the cost of energy, especially green energy. Scaling benefits come from order of magnitude increases in demand, not single digit percentage increases in demand.

coralreef 6y ago
So then does that make Bitcoin a huge energy wasting problem to worry about, or an insignificant toy in the bigger picture?
- bryanlarsen 6y ago
  A single digit percentage of a massive number is still a massive number.

PragmaticPulp 6y ago

At this point you’re just tossing out unrelated statements without even trying to tie them back to an argument. Yes, the Earth is bombarded with a lot of sunlight. So what? Doesn’t change the fact that Bitcoin is consuming existing electricity infrastructure that we could be using for something else.

coralreef 6y ago
Electricity gets generated and either consumed or wasted. Bitcoin eats excess available supply. What problems do you want to throw energy at that is economically viable?
- TomSwirly 6y ago
  > Electricity gets generated and either consumed or wasted. Bitcoin eats excess available supply. :-o Is this... a joke? Your claim is that production exists, regardless of demand? That simply isn't the case.
  - coralreef 6y ago
    A waterfall power-plant produces energy 24/7 whether the townspeople are awake or not. They consume energy in the form of electricity during the day. At night, they have no need for it shut off the turbines. This is unused and uncaptured energy that could have been put to use. The potential energy is "wasted" because the infrastructure is underutilized, the energy could not be preserved. This is starting to change as battery technology improves and makes it economically feasible to store energy. Otherwise, energy consuming applications could consume this supply, providing return to the townspeople's investment.
    - maxerickson 6y ago
      Sometimes they turn the waterfall up and down. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Control_Dam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Control_Dam And then most of the rest of the time, cheap, reliable power would get consumed by the grid.

wwarner 6y ago

The amount of sunlight reaching the earth is 1.365 kilo watts per square meter [0]. Fossil fuels are stored solar energy; wind, hydroelectric and of course solar is derived from sunlight. Nuclear doesn't have this limit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight#Total_solar_irradiance_(TSI)_and_spectral_solar_irradiance_(SSI)_upon_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunlight#Total_solar_irradianc...