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Electrical power is only fungible in that sense if significant negative externalities exist which allow units of energy to be priced similarly when their source
by tshaddox 5y ago
Electrical power is only fungible in that sense if significant negative externalities exist which allow units of energy to be priced similarly when their sources vary significantly in total (including societal) costs. If societal costs are internalized (i.e. externalities are eliminated) then fungibility would surely disappear, because a unit of energy produced from coal would surely be more expensive than a unit of energy produced from solar.
- skohan 5y agoIs this a distinction without a difference? If the climate impact of mining were truly priced in, is there any chance this activity would be remotely profitable?
- WanderPanda 5y agoOf course it would be remotely profitable for some of the miners. The difficulty adjustment is making the consensus kind of invariant of the total amount of energy used. Even security-wise Bitcoin would probably be fine at 1/10 or even 1/100 of its current power usage