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> energy consumption is beyond acceptable Do you have any resources or studies to describe this more? I have really struggled to find actually nuanced discussi
by bmitc 5y ago
> energy consumption is beyond acceptable
Do you have any resources or studies to describe this more? I have really struggled to find actually nuanced discussions and unbiased sources for this. It’s all at the extremes of it’s either the worst thing ever to not a problem at all.
I’d also be interested in comparisons to energy usage of say servers that run Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
- whoisjohnkid 5y agoA lot of the energy consumption argument against bitcoin stems from this study [1]. Some have pointed out flaws in the study that over inflate the consumption numbers. This has sparked various indexes that have tried to measure the consumption in an unbiased way [2]. Additional studies [3] have shown that 39% of bitcoin miners are using renewables. The energy consumption argument has led some to investigate the energy consumption of other assets such as gold with some estimating the energy requirements for gold to be 50x that of mining bitcoin [4]. Whenever energy consumption of other assets are pointed out to be higher than bitcoin the debate then shifts to utility; e.g it’s ok if Y consumes X energy because Y provides Z to society. Some bitcoin miners are finding interesting way to utilize the heat produced by their mining equipment [5]. And some say that bitcoin mining can help reduce the cost of producing new green energy infrastructure since excess power that would’ve been wasted could be used for bitcoin mining to offset costs. I agree with you that it is tough to find unbiased info on the subject. - [1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328581842_Bitcoin_emissions_alone_could_push_global_warming_above_2C https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328581842_Bitcoin_e... - [2] https://cbeci.org/ https://cbeci.org/ - [3] https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-ccaf-3rd-global-cryptoasset-benchmarking-study.pdf https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/2021-cc... - [4] https://simon.medium.com/bitcoin-and-pollution-the-definitive-answer-a010b0826f2a https://simon.medium.com/bitcoin-and-pollution-the-definitiv... - [5] https://braiins.com/blog/green-innovation-in-bitcoin-mining-recycling-asic-heat https://braiins.com/blog/green-innovation-in-bitcoin-mining-...
- bmitc 5y agoThank you for the references!
- thinkmassive 5y agoNot supporting the parent’s opinion, but here’s a well researched report on the topic: https://nydig.com/bitcoin-net-zero/ https://nydig.com/bitcoin-net-zero/
- bmitc 5y agoThank you for the reference! Interestingly enough, I had received an ad for this on my LinkedIn or Instagram before I ever clicked your link.