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Bitcoin is only a problem if you believe the future of energy creation is fossil fuels. This is simply not the case. Solar and wind are the cheapest sources of
by coralreef 6y ago
Bitcoin is only a problem if you believe the future of energy creation is fossil fuels. This is simply not the case. Solar and wind are the cheapest sources of energy for new power plants compared to nuclear, gas peaker (natural gas), and coal.
https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth https://ourworldindata.org/cheap-renewables-growth
2019 Prices
Coal - $109/MWh
Solar - $68/MWh
On shore wind - $53/MWh
Basic economic theory dictates that energy consuming businesses would seek out the lowest cost sources of energy to maximize profits.
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoMissing the point. No matter how you spin it, Bitcoin's energy usage is additive on top of all other energy usage. If Bitcoin wasn't consuming that energy, renewable or otherwise, it would be re-routed to other endeavors. If Bitcoin was using renewable energy, that's still renewable energy that could be used to replace older fossil fuel power stations. Instead, we're burning 121 TWh per year to perform arbitrary proof-of-work calculations. That requires us to keep 121 TWh of older generation capacity online. There's no free lunch, especially when it comes to power generation.
- coralreef 6y agoRenewable energy isn't a commodity like oil. You can't yet generate watts at a waterfall in the jungle, and turn around to sell them to towns in the desert. A bitcoin mining operation at a geothermal vent in remote Iceland is not taking away energy units from people in India.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- quickthrower2 6y agoBasic economic theory doesn't include lobbying, political-industrial complex, subsidies and vested interests.