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Wouldn't utilities just generate less energy, if a significant consumer of energy vanished?
by pchristensen 5y ago
Wouldn't utilities just generate less energy, if a significant consumer of energy vanished?
- wyager 5y agoUtilities are incredibly constrained in how much power they can generate, where they can send it to, at what times, and how quickly they can adjust these parameters. Bitcoin mining, as a reliable but highly flexible consumer at a reasonable price, actually makes operating a grid way easier and makes the use of slow-to-react (like nuclear) or unreliable (solar, wind) power generation much more feasible.
- XMPPwocky 5y agoExcept that: 1. difficulty calculations only happen every 2 weeks - so this would result in a comically bad UX where your transactions confirm dramatically faster or slower depending on the weather 2. the network security provided from mining using electricity is directly related to the opportunity cost of using that electricity for mining. If energy was otherwise going to be thrown away, the security provided from mining using that energy is zero.