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No, like others have stated, the climate challenge is switching our entire energy production (plus other fossile fuel end-uses) to net-zero or net-negative emis

No, like others have stated, the climate challenge is switching our entire energy production (plus other fossile fuel end-uses) to net-zero or net-negative emissions. If Bitcoin disappeared tomorrow, it would give a small reduction in energy use, but at best it buys you 6 months extra to decarbonize electricity production.

gefhfff 5y ago
"small" 6 months can be a tipping point happening or not. Additionally, each produced ton of green house gases is contributing to climate change right now The more electricity to decarbonize the more difficult.
- xyzzyz 5y ago
  edit: deleting the comment because I misunderstood the context
  - kitkat_new 5y ago
    which scientific sources contradict the existence of tipping points?
pibechorro 5y ago
Not to mention pow mining is not location or resource specific. It encourages cheap and efficient use of energy. Miners preffer low cost, surplus energy and will relocate wherever that may be. Pow can use nuclear, thermal, wind, solar and alsoo dirty fuels, just like a Tesla. If you have an issue with the use of dirty fuels, then campaign against that specifically, throwing pow under the bus entirely is short sighted. Also what does btc and crypto replace? The carbon footprint of traditional finance, banking and the military actions to preserve it are massive polluters. Even at its infancy, pow crypto is already a good direction to improve sustainability.
- lukifer 5y ago
  While I think it's fair to properly account for the carbon footprint of traditional banking and state military infrastructure, it is an utter fantasy that crypto is in direct competition with them. Crypto has been steadily integrating with existing banking institutions and regulations over the last five years; and barring some kind of new free-market, secrets-based "killer drones as a service", no distributed hash table can supplant raw military hegemony (aka, the $5 wrench attack [0]). I think crypto has a lot of socially useful potential, beyond mere speculative gambling and Austrian-school value storage, but that's in addition to the centuries of momentum in our real-world political economy; crypto-currencies are unlikely to replace that entirely, anymore than the internet replaced the New York Times. [0] https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/

gefhfff 5y ago

"small" 6 months can be a tipping point happening or not. Additionally, each produced ton of green house gases is contributing to climate change right now The more electricity to decarbonize the more difficult.

xyzzyz 5y ago
edit: deleting the comment because I misunderstood the context
- kitkat_new 5y ago
  which scientific sources contradict the existence of tipping points?

pibechorro 5y ago

Not to mention pow mining is not location or resource specific. It encourages cheap and efficient use of energy. Miners preffer low cost, surplus energy and will relocate wherever that may be. Pow can use nuclear, thermal, wind, solar and alsoo dirty fuels, just like a Tesla. If you have an issue with the use of dirty fuels, then campaign against that specifically, throwing pow under the bus entirely is short sighted. Also what does btc and crypto replace? The carbon footprint of traditional finance, banking and the military actions to preserve it are massive polluters. Even at its infancy, pow crypto is already a good direction to improve sustainability.

lukifer 5y ago
While I think it's fair to properly account for the carbon footprint of traditional banking and state military infrastructure, it is an utter fantasy that crypto is in direct competition with them. Crypto has been steadily integrating with existing banking institutions and regulations over the last five years; and barring some kind of new free-market, secrets-based "killer drones as a service", no distributed hash table can supplant raw military hegemony (aka, the $5 wrench attack [0]). I think crypto has a lot of socially useful potential, beyond mere speculative gambling and Austrian-school value storage, but that's in addition to the centuries of momentum in our real-world political economy; crypto-currencies are unlikely to replace that entirely, anymore than the internet replaced the New York Times. [0] https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/