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> even if it were true that cryptocurrencies ran on renewable power, the idea that it is OK for speculation to waste vast amounts of renewable power assumes tha

> even if it were true that cryptocurrencies ran on renewable power, the idea that it is OK for speculation to waste vast amounts of renewable power assumes that doing so doesn't compete with more socially valuable uses for renewables, or indeed for power in general Yes, this is exactly what is going on. If you think you have a solution to this decades old reality, then thank cryptocurrency for forcing you to notice. Energy was being wasted, renewable energy was also being wasted, in perpetuity, forever, until cryptocurrency producers put their applications at the site and started using it. There is still a lot more energy of this kind that will be tapped into by miners. Again, if you really think you have another economically viable alternative, emphasis on economically viable, then dont forget to thank bitcoin, and also do the thing. You’ll single handled help many people and gain leverage in public policy to enforce your dream world that excludes proof of work.

netcan 5y ago
Economic viability depends on price. Where mining drives up prices, outcompeting other uses, it's driving out otherwise viable uses.
- chrisco255 5y ago
  Wherever mining drives up prices it cuts directly into the profit margins of that miner. The electricity market is local while the Bitcoin market is global. A miner who faces an increase in electric costs will lose to miners in other parts of the globe with cheaper electricity.
- vmception 5y ago
  That happens sometimes, but just like the talk OP posted, it requires imagining the coal plants and ignoring all the other operations more applicable to what I described Although relaunched coal operations or weak electrical grids is what makes the news, the other energy use is just a much greater opportunity for miners and much more prevalent already in use and scale. I think anti-POW vigilantes actually have a role in making sure it stays that way because there is a real threat, but it requires then acknowledging that it already happens that way, but since people are searching for ways to be anti-POW instead of looking for energy uses that were worse before POW moved in, it is an ironic way to lose this battle.
Proven 5y ago
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netcan 5y ago

Economic viability depends on price. Where mining drives up prices, outcompeting other uses, it's driving out otherwise viable uses.

chrisco255 5y ago
Wherever mining drives up prices it cuts directly into the profit margins of that miner. The electricity market is local while the Bitcoin market is global. A miner who faces an increase in electric costs will lose to miners in other parts of the globe with cheaper electricity.
vmception 5y ago
That happens sometimes, but just like the talk OP posted, it requires imagining the coal plants and ignoring all the other operations more applicable to what I described Although relaunched coal operations or weak electrical grids is what makes the news, the other energy use is just a much greater opportunity for miners and much more prevalent already in use and scale. I think anti-POW vigilantes actually have a role in making sure it stays that way because there is a real threat, but it requires then acknowledging that it already happens that way, but since people are searching for ways to be anti-POW instead of looking for energy uses that were worse before POW moved in, it is an ironic way to lose this battle.

Proven 5y ago

[dead]