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This argument is incredibly tired and inaccurate. The majority of Bitcoin mining happens on renewable power and actually HELPS the renewables industry by makin

by Jaxkr 4y ago

This argument is incredibly tired and inaccurate. The majority of Bitcoin mining happens on renewable power and actually HELPS the renewables industry by making renewables more profitable by buying off-peak and surplus energy. Additionally, the OP conflates power consumption with emissions. Home mining of Eth is significantly more harmful because cities are still majority powered by coal and gas. If you want to get mad about cryptocurrency power usage, focus your attention there. Good Harvard Business Review article: https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-actually-consume https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-actuall...

ogogmad 4y ago
> actually HELPS the environment by making renewables more profitable by buying off-peak and surplus energy I've heard this argument before, and it's intriguing. But I would imagine that storing that energy into batteries, or diverting it to where it might be needed but isn't available, would be a better use of surplus energy. Bitcoin might be competing with that, and that might be bad. [edit] Also, the ASICs used to mine BTC take energy to produce. And what do you do with them once they're obsolete? [edit] Or let's say you've got a factory producing goods. Then wouldn't it make sense to ramp up production during off-peak hours? At least it would be producing actual goods instead of casino tokens.
- seba_dos1 4y ago
  This argument is what people would like to see happening because it makes sense in their heads, but in the reality it turned out that the opposite is true and that cryptocurrency miners are putting coal plants back to use in order to grab cheap energy to mine[0]. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/bitcoin-miners-revive-fossil-fuel-plant-co2-emissions-soared https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/bitcoin-m...
jsaxton86 4y ago
I'm not convinced. Is there data you can share that backs up your claims?

by Jaxkr 4y ago

ogogmad 4y ago

> actually HELPS the environment by making renewables more profitable by buying off-peak and surplus energy I've heard this argument before, and it's intriguing. But I would imagine that storing that energy into batteries, or diverting it to where it might be needed but isn't available, would be a better use of surplus energy. Bitcoin might be competing with that, and that might be bad. [edit] Also, the ASICs used to mine BTC take energy to produce. And what do you do with them once they're obsolete? [edit] Or let's say you've got a factory producing goods. Then wouldn't it make sense to ramp up production during off-peak hours? At least it would be producing actual goods instead of casino tokens.

seba_dos1 4y ago
This argument is what people would like to see happening because it makes sense in their heads, but in the reality it turned out that the opposite is true and that cryptocurrency miners are putting coal plants back to use in order to grab cheap energy to mine[0]. [0] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/bitcoin-miners-revive-fossil-fuel-plant-co2-emissions-soared https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/18/bitcoin-m...

jsaxton86 4y ago

I'm not convinced. Is there data you can share that backs up your claims?