5 ms·

Really? I thought the first principle of green energy was to stop polluting. There's no need to reduce consumption unless green energy tech can't meet the deman

• chriswarbo 5y ago
  > I thought the first principle of green energy was to stop polluting Even with such a laughably limited definition, "pollution" would include: - Noise pollution, e.g. from wind farms, construction, etc. - Chemical pollution, e.g. from batteries, photovoltaics, mining, etc. - Non-recyclable waste, e.g. many wind turbine blades, structural elements, etc. - Airbourne particulates, e.g. from transport and construction (tyres, road wear, brake wear, etc.) These are certainly less bad than "pollution" from fossil fuels; but it would be stupid to increase them for the sake of partially-inverting SHA256 on a few inputs.
  • jude- 5y ago
    That PoW contributes to pollution is because society allows it to, not because the protocol intrinsically requires it. You can call it "stupid" all you want, but Mother Nature doesn't give two sh*ts about anyone's moralizing. Fossil fuels are bad no matter what the purpose for consuming them is (even if it's making shoes for orphans, or giving everyone free healthcare). It's possible (and desirable!) to pass sensible regulations to require that PoW mining rigs to use only excess renewable energy, and it's possible (and desirable!) to require PoW mining to contribute taxes towards green energy roll-outs. But per my original point, trying to make it go away is a fool's errand -- that's at least as difficult as trying to ban general-purpose computing, and would cause far more problems than it would solve.