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> the more renewable capacity Bitcoin uses, the less of it is available to factories, cars and houses Electricity costs 22p a unit but for every unit my solar
by dangerface 5y ago
> the more renewable capacity Bitcoin uses, the less of it is available to factories, cars and houses
Electricity costs 22p a unit but for every unit my solar puts onto the grid I am paid only 5p. They pay me so little not because of their greed but because they can't use the energy, electricity is needed most in the evening when my solar isn't producing. At that rate the solar on my roof will never pay for itself.
Batteries and hydro storage are expensive and not that great for the environment in comparison to a miner thats small and can be anywhere there is a power source and internet connection.
If we can manage surplus energy on the grid instantaneously in a way that stores its value like we can with bitcoin we could solve the grid balancing problems renewables present. We can produce energy at 120% - 200% what is needed and burn the surplus instead of trying to store that energy.
If I put that surplus energy my solar produces into a miner I can make more money than powering the grid not because I am starving factories, cars and houses of my power but simply because my power would be wasted on the grid and would never actually power those things.
> It's greed, it's selfishness, it's short-sightedness.
Its a tool it can be used how the wielder sees fit
- Comevius 5y agoBitcoin has an infinitely increasing energy demand. Surplus would not be enough to sustain it. There are better uses for clean energy, like making steel, hydrogen or ammonia. Bitcoin offers little back to society. A few people make a boatload of cash with it. The infamous trickle-down economic theory unfortunately doesn't work.
- dangerface 5y agoYou can't use electricity to produce enough heat to melt steel thats why they use coal thats why that electricity is so cheap. If you could then why is the steel industry spending billions on coal when there is cheap renewables in massive abundance? Why is the electricity produced by solar so worthless if it has such imense value to this rich industry, and on the flip side why is the value of bitcoin through the roof if society don't benefit from it. Banking the worlds unbanked offers little to you that doesn't mean it offers little to society think of those who have less than you.
- Comevius 5y agoThere are fossil-fuel steel initiatives like Hybrit. If coal would be more expensive we would see more of these. Bitcoin's value is through the roof due to the religious fervor of holders, greedy investors shooting for the moon, and market manipulation. This is however not sustainable since the only value is cashing out at the right time, taking money from bag holders. Bitcoin is more of an asset class than a currency, it does not offer much to the unbanked. You can't buy anything with it, you can just buy it and sell it, which is risky. People however are being scammed with Bitcoin, just look at what happened in Brazil after their regulators gave a thumbs up on cryptocurrencies: FOMO, Ponzi schemes, hundreds of thousands of victims. Bitcoin in many parts of the world finances organized crime and terrorism, so banking the unbanked is not always a good idea either.