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...or we could work on better energy storage and distribution technologies and move away from "base load" approaches to power generation. I am also not seeing

...or we could work on better energy storage and distribution technologies and move away from "base load" approaches to power generation. I am also not seeing how Bitcoin, which consumes power regardless of whether or not there is any excess, helps in any way. Why do you think Bitcoin miners would shut their operations down during periods of high demand in any regulatory environment, other than one which specifically punishes Bitcoin miners (in which case, why should anyone think Bitcoin would continue to exist)? Bitcoin would just push up the floor on how much electricity must be supplied at any given time.

Majromax 6y ago
> or we could work on better energy storage and distribution technologies That's a "both and" issue. An energy generator could hypothetically mine cryptocurrencies to buffer their excess-power periods right now with little capital investment, whereas developing new storage technology is an expensive and long-term problem. > Why do you think Bitcoin miners would shut their operations down during periods of high demand in any regulatory environment A non-criminal bitcoin miner (the argument applies to any other proof-of-work coin in the same way) will reduce their mining effort if the marginal cost of mining (the power bill) is larger than the reward from doing so (mining rewards plus transaction fees). The problem then is one of value, but cryptocurrency valuations aren't fixed. If the price of bitcoin durably collapses for some reason, miners will turn off their rigs and the energy cost per coin will fall. (Note that I'm not a "bitcoin bull," but I also know better than to predict future prices with false confidence.)