4 ms·

What if I generated my own electricity from solar in say sunny Spain or Portugal.

fivea 5y ago
> What if I generated my own electricity from solar in say sunny Spain or Portugal. I'm not sure about Portugal, but nowadays Spain is undergoing a really rough time with historically high energy prices due to its overreliance on gas as it's energy source.
beirut_bootleg 5y ago
Yes, please do! And go ahead and use that energy to power your every day needs: lighting, cooking, heating and entertainment. Now tell me which of those categories Bitcoin falls under. Solar energy may be virtually infinite, but solar panels are not. If you really care about being eco-friendly, then you better put them to good use.
- kobalsky 5y ago
  > Now tell me which of those categories Bitcoin falls under Where do I put my workstation? I mean I do watch youtube on it sometimes but I mostly work with it... and it does heat up the room but that's mostly a side effect and not a feature. Please help.
  - Aeolun 5y ago
    I think workstations by definition fall under the same category as a space heater.
- chii 5y ago
  > you better put them to good use and why do you get to decide what a "good use" is for somebody else?
  - petmon 5y ago
    Do not question the paperclip AI. GP does not "get to decide" but hopes to persuade. One possible grim future is that home solar panels do not displace fossil fuels, but instead suffer the same fate as GPUs: eaten up by cryptocurrencies which produce negligible economic value but have a bottomless appetite through their role as a speculative investment. This is terrible for the climate. How do we avoid it?
    - _aavaa_ 5y ago
      > How do we avoid it? Find a better solution to the issue that crypto currencies are trying to solve. Bitcoin is seen as (among other things) a hedge against inflation, a way to quickly send money internationally, and a way to spend and receive money without needing other people's permission to do so. Ethereum is seen as a way to create programs that runs in "the cloud" but not in a cloud that is under the control of any one group, and a way to create new organizations and consensus making systems that are designed from the group up based on internet assumptions (information is quick and essential free to transmit and the importance of geographic location is minimized). I am saying seen to not try to keep it more neutral. You and I may disagree about whether ETH and BTC achieve or make progress on any of these goals, but I believe it's very clear that many people THINK that they do. If you would like to get rid of ETH and BTC, you'd need to find a way to solve (or are perceived to solve) these problems better than ETH and BTC.
squarefoot 5y ago
You would still be generating lots of heat with all those GPUs crunching numbers every day, and possibly even more to cool them down. And there's also chips scarcity, in which I'm sure the pandemic isn't the only culprit. Cryptocurrencies should be banned everywhere, unless we find a way to send a mining farm in space; but they're doing only damage here on Earth.
- Nevermark 5y ago
  Proof of stake and proof of history have already arrived as alternatives to your dilemma. Replacing legacy tech (proof of work, in this case) isn't trivial, but better than banning a whole new industry for an already solved legacy problem.
brippalcharrid 5y ago
Doesn't matter, you still don't get to just use that electricity for whatever you want. Why would you want to participate in a decentralized financial network, anyway? Now go sit in a dark room and recite the Law of Jante seven times.

> What if I generated my own electricity from solar in say sunny Spain or Portugal. I'm not sure about Portugal, but nowadays Spain is undergoing a really rough time with historically high energy prices due to its overreliance on gas as it's energy source.

beirut_bootleg 5y ago

Yes, please do! And go ahead and use that energy to power your every day needs: lighting, cooking, heating and entertainment. Now tell me which of those categories Bitcoin falls under. Solar energy may be virtually infinite, but solar panels are not. If you really care about being eco-friendly, then you better put them to good use.

kobalsky 5y ago
> Now tell me which of those categories Bitcoin falls under Where do I put my workstation? I mean I do watch youtube on it sometimes but I mostly work with it... and it does heat up the room but that's mostly a side effect and not a feature. Please help.
- Aeolun 5y ago
  I think workstations by definition fall under the same category as a space heater.
chii 5y ago
> you better put them to good use and why do you get to decide what a "good use" is for somebody else?
- petmon 5y ago
  Do not question the paperclip AI. GP does not "get to decide" but hopes to persuade. One possible grim future is that home solar panels do not displace fossil fuels, but instead suffer the same fate as GPUs: eaten up by cryptocurrencies which produce negligible economic value but have a bottomless appetite through their role as a speculative investment. This is terrible for the climate. How do we avoid it?
  - _aavaa_ 5y ago
    > How do we avoid it? Find a better solution to the issue that crypto currencies are trying to solve. Bitcoin is seen as (among other things) a hedge against inflation, a way to quickly send money internationally, and a way to spend and receive money without needing other people's permission to do so. Ethereum is seen as a way to create programs that runs in "the cloud" but not in a cloud that is under the control of any one group, and a way to create new organizations and consensus making systems that are designed from the group up based on internet assumptions (information is quick and essential free to transmit and the importance of geographic location is minimized). I am saying seen to not try to keep it more neutral. You and I may disagree about whether ETH and BTC achieve or make progress on any of these goals, but I believe it's very clear that many people THINK that they do. If you would like to get rid of ETH and BTC, you'd need to find a way to solve (or are perceived to solve) these problems better than ETH and BTC.

squarefoot 5y ago

You would still be generating lots of heat with all those GPUs crunching numbers every day, and possibly even more to cool them down. And there's also chips scarcity, in which I'm sure the pandemic isn't the only culprit. Cryptocurrencies should be banned everywhere, unless we find a way to send a mining farm in space; but they're doing only damage here on Earth.

Nevermark 5y ago
Proof of stake and proof of history have already arrived as alternatives to your dilemma. Replacing legacy tech (proof of work, in this case) isn't trivial, but better than banning a whole new industry for an already solved legacy problem.

brippalcharrid 5y ago

Doesn't matter, you still don't get to just use that electricity for whatever you want. Why would you want to participate in a decentralized financial network, anyway? Now go sit in a dark room and recite the Law of Jante seven times.