4 ms·

Compare Bitcoin's energy consumption to a country like China. It's not so devastating to the planet. Bitcoin currently consumes around 110 TWh per year — 0.55%

Compare Bitcoin's energy consumption to a country like China. It's not so devastating to the planet. Bitcoin currently consumes around 110 TWh per year — 0.55% of global electricity production, or roughly equivalent to the annual energy draw of small countries like Malaysia or Sweden. China as of 2019 was ~39,000 TWh, with the China ban the energy consumption can only improve. As miners move away from coal and on to more renewable sources and countries.

techsin101 5y ago
Why would anyone compare electric consumption of a country with digital currency? That is the most ridiculous comparison I've ever seen. In terms of reaching, this reaching to mars and possibly beyond. Lets compare energy consumption of bitcoin with online banking. That's at least in the same neighborhood. A country contributions to mankind include infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, powering hospitals, airports, schools, sewage system, trains, telecommunication, research labs, libraries, warehouses, ..... list goes on. What does bitcoin does? nothing. There is no comparison.
- viraptor 5y ago
  > Why would anyone compare electric consumption of a country with digital currency? Because we don't operate in GW / TW units typically, so some size comparison is needed for mental visualisation. In the same way I'd say "about the size of a basketball" rather than "it's 250 cubic cm".
  - techsin101 5y ago
    No you didn't just compare to demonstrate difference in units, you asserted that bitcoin energy consumption is harmless as it only makes a tiny percentage of China's total consumption. Which is like saying oh these shoes cost $8k but that's nothing compared to your house! what???
    - viraptor 5y ago
      I didn't assert any of that. I think you got users confused.
oefrha 5y ago
If China uses 3900TWh a year, that would be twice the global consumption by your claim that 110TWh = 0.55% global. Of course that number is about an order of magnitude off. If Bitcoin being as useless as it is consumes 0.55% of global electricity isn’t alarming I don’t know what is.
- mrpbennett 5y ago
  got my China data from here https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china
  - oefrha 5y ago
    Okay, I misread your energy to electricity-only comparison. Divide 0.55% by 5 and it’s still alarming. You also need to quantify all the non-electricity energy use going into the Bitcoin equal system, including but not limited to hardware production, transportation, depreciation, etc. I’m not sure if those are negligible.
rspeele 5y ago
> China as of 2019 was ~39,000 TWh That's more than the whole world (per your own numbers, 110 / 0.0055 = 20,000). I am seeing more like 7,500 TWh for 2019.[0] Also, 1.4 billion people live in China and they make a huge amount of the world's durable goods, so it makes sense that they will consume some power. Bitcoin does jack shit. [0]https://www.climatescorecard.org/2021/01/electricity-consumption-and-renewable-usage-have-increased-in-china-while-steady-energy-intensity-has-decreased/ https://www.climatescorecard.org/2021/01/electricity-consump...
- abystander 5y ago
  > Bitcoin does jack shit. It's a store of value that just survived displacement from a despotic regime without breaking a sweat.

techsin101 5y ago

Why would anyone compare electric consumption of a country with digital currency? That is the most ridiculous comparison I've ever seen. In terms of reaching, this reaching to mars and possibly beyond. Lets compare energy consumption of bitcoin with online banking. That's at least in the same neighborhood. A country contributions to mankind include infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, powering hospitals, airports, schools, sewage system, trains, telecommunication, research labs, libraries, warehouses, ..... list goes on. What does bitcoin does? nothing. There is no comparison.

viraptor 5y ago
> Why would anyone compare electric consumption of a country with digital currency? Because we don't operate in GW / TW units typically, so some size comparison is needed for mental visualisation. In the same way I'd say "about the size of a basketball" rather than "it's 250 cubic cm".
- techsin101 5y ago
  No you didn't just compare to demonstrate difference in units, you asserted that bitcoin energy consumption is harmless as it only makes a tiny percentage of China's total consumption. Which is like saying oh these shoes cost $8k but that's nothing compared to your house! what???
  - viraptor 5y ago
    I didn't assert any of that. I think you got users confused.

oefrha 5y ago

If China uses 3900TWh a year, that would be twice the global consumption by your claim that 110TWh = 0.55% global. Of course that number is about an order of magnitude off. If Bitcoin being as useless as it is consumes 0.55% of global electricity isn’t alarming I don’t know what is.

mrpbennett 5y ago
got my China data from here https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/china
- oefrha 5y ago
  Okay, I misread your energy to electricity-only comparison. Divide 0.55% by 5 and it’s still alarming. You also need to quantify all the non-electricity energy use going into the Bitcoin equal system, including but not limited to hardware production, transportation, depreciation, etc. I’m not sure if those are negligible.

rspeele 5y ago

> China as of 2019 was ~39,000 TWh That's more than the whole world (per your own numbers, 110 / 0.0055 = 20,000). I am seeing more like 7,500 TWh for 2019.[0] Also, 1.4 billion people live in China and they make a huge amount of the world's durable goods, so it makes sense that they will consume some power. Bitcoin does jack shit. [0]https://www.climatescorecard.org/2021/01/electricity-consumption-and-renewable-usage-have-increased-in-china-while-steady-energy-intensity-has-decreased/ https://www.climatescorecard.org/2021/01/electricity-consump...

abystander 5y ago
> Bitcoin does jack shit. It's a store of value that just survived displacement from a despotic regime without breaking a sweat.