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Hard to know for sure, but here's some inaccurate napkin-math: A single BTC transaction requires ~376kg of CO2. [1] Driving a Tesla emits ~91g CO2 per km. [2]

Hard to know for sure, but here's some inaccurate napkin-math: A single BTC transaction requires ~376kg of CO2. [1] Driving a Tesla emits ~91g CO2 per km. [2] Average distance driven in the US per year, per car is 13,476mi (21687.5km). [3] Driving your Tesla for a year emits ~1,973,562.5g of CO2, or 1,973.6kg. So, if you buy one with Bitcoin, you're emitting ~19% more CO2 for that year than you would with cash or credit. You could further amortize the amount over the lifetime of the car. [1] https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/ https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/ [2] https://www.electrive.com/2020/08/31/study-currently-available-electric-cars-cause-less-co2-emissions-than-ices/ https://www.electrive.com/2020/08/31/study-currently-availab... [3] https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/onh00/bar8.htm

NamTaf 6y ago
Those numbers are absolutely, sickeningly staggering. 1 litre of petrol produces about 2.3 kg CO2. That means, a bitcoin transaction is the same as burning 163 litres of petrol. Absolutely insane. I decided to do some more numbers. It means that driving a Tesla for 25.31 km produces as much CO2 as burning 1 L of fuel from a CO2 equivalence point of view. Put differently, Teslas get 3.95 L per 100 km from a CO2 equivalence point of view. Compare that with, say, a Mazda 6 which apparently uses 9.8 L per 100 km from a very quick search. From a carbon emissions standpoint, Teslas are about 2.5x as efficient. Reasonable, to be sure, but not the order-of-magnitude difference I might have guessed if I had to take a stab in the dark.
- bildung 6y ago
  The electrive article even cites a very optimistic study that assumes a high share of renewables to fill the Tesla. Other studies see quite more modest gains of EVs, e.g. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-over-ten-year-lifetime-of-an-average-mid-size-car-by-powertrain-2018 https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-l... Edit: In contrast, the gains of public transit vs. individual car commutes are > 7x per km driven, before renewables: http://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/pdf/infas_Vortrag_ifeuWorkshop.pdf http://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/pdf/infas_Vortrag_if... , page 18 (German source, sorry, "Bus" == bus, "Bahn" == train)
mlindner 6y ago
> A single BTC transaction requires ~376kg of CO2. [1] That seems super wrong. They must be assuming very few transactions per block.

NamTaf 6y ago

Those numbers are absolutely, sickeningly staggering. 1 litre of petrol produces about 2.3 kg CO2. That means, a bitcoin transaction is the same as burning 163 litres of petrol. Absolutely insane. I decided to do some more numbers. It means that driving a Tesla for 25.31 km produces as much CO2 as burning 1 L of fuel from a CO2 equivalence point of view. Put differently, Teslas get 3.95 L per 100 km from a CO2 equivalence point of view. Compare that with, say, a Mazda 6 which apparently uses 9.8 L per 100 km from a very quick search. From a carbon emissions standpoint, Teslas are about 2.5x as efficient. Reasonable, to be sure, but not the order-of-magnitude difference I might have guessed if I had to take a stab in the dark.

bildung 6y ago
The electrive article even cites a very optimistic study that assumes a high share of renewables to fill the Tesla. Other studies see quite more modest gains of EVs, e.g. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-life-cycle-greenhouse-gas-emissions-over-ten-year-lifetime-of-an-average-mid-size-car-by-powertrain-2018 https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/charts/comparative-l... Edit: In contrast, the gains of public transit vs. individual car commutes are > 7x per km driven, before renewables: http://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/pdf/infas_Vortrag_ifeuWorkshop.pdf http://www.mobilitaet-in-deutschland.de/pdf/infas_Vortrag_if... , page 18 (German source, sorry, "Bus" == bus, "Bahn" == train)

mlindner 6y ago

> A single BTC transaction requires ~376kg of CO2. [1] That seems super wrong. They must be assuming very few transactions per block.