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The point is that without btc the energy wouldn’t have been captured anyway. In theory if all btc miners used only renewables, the price of renewables would dro
by albertgoeswoof 6y ago
The point is that without btc the energy wouldn’t have been captured anyway. In theory if all btc miners used only renewables, the price of renewables would drop, and become more affordable for others, and the net impact on the environment would be positive.
Renewables are infinite, we are constrained by our ability to capture them efficiently enough to beat fossil fuels.
There are probably other factors at play that prevent this from working in reality though
- cmdli 6y agoRenewables aren't infinite; they are constrained, just as you said, by our manufacturing and natural resources to build vehicles to collect them. Unless BTC somehow manufactures more solar panels or provides more natural resources, then any resources consumed by BTC are resources that aren't used for other purposes. Ultimately, we are always limited in how much we can accomplish, and devoting resources to BTC necessarily takes away resources from other uses. The only question, then, is if BTC is a better use for those resources than other things.
- albertgoeswoof 6y agoThe idea is that economies of scale and increased incentives drive forward new innovation in technology that increase the amount of renewable energy that can be captured. Eg if we need to manufacture 100x more solar panels than last year, the cost per solar panel will drop dramatically, and the efficiency will rise due to the volume of investment in solar panels. We are not limited in how much we accomplish as technology provides efficiencies that allow us to grow, it’s not a zero sum game.
- anoncake 6y ago> In theory if all btc miners used only renewables, the price of renewables would drop, and become more affordable for others, and the net impact on the environment would be positive. No. If demand rises, so do prices. Not the other way round.
- albertgoeswoof 6y agoNot if your goods are infinite. There’s an infinite amount of sunlight and wind, if demand goes up, more tools/breakthroughs in tech will be made and the costs will drop dramatically. See battery tech and solar panels lately. Only if we hit a hard resource and tech barrier will we not be able to move forward.
- anoncake 6y agoEven if we assume sunlight and wind are infinite, the labour needed to harness it is not. Else energy would be free by now.