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This 2.3% mostly came from fossil fuels not new green generation capacity. You need to consider where these miners are located based on electricity costs and w

by Retric 3y ago

This 2.3% mostly came from fossil fuels not new green generation capacity. You need to consider where these miners are located based on electricity costs and what infrastructure is built there not simply a hypothetical grid where arbitrary power can be moved anywhere at zero losses.

hamburga 3y ago
Source?
- Mathieu95 3y ago
  Look up US energy mix.
keyringlight 3y ago
Yes, it's hard to get much distance out of that logic. If that was the case there'd be little reasoning for efficiency as incandescent lightbulbs would also be incentive to expand power generation. It delays turning off dirtier generation even if more modern and efficient plants get built.
015a 3y ago
Wrong. And not just a little wrong; a LOT wrong. 86% of new energy capacity added in the United States in 2023 was from non-fossil fuel sources. [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1304-august-21-2023-2023-non-fossil-fuel-sources-will-account-86-new#:~:text=For%202023%2C%20added%20capacity%20will,for%2014%25%20of%20the%20total https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1304-augu....
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > 86% of new energy capacity added in the United States in 2023 was from non-fossil fuel sources They're using 2.3% of power, not 2.3% of green power. Also, every watt of green power crypto takes is another displaced to fossil. I am sympathetic to the argument that what one does with market-rate power is one's own business. But the environmental argument for crypto is bunk.
- twojacobtwo 3y ago
  Wouldn't the current supply ratio be more accurate, if we can't determine exact sources?
- Retric 3y ago
  Capacity isn’t the same as utilization. Crypto is on 24/7 but the rest of the demand curve isn’t flat, so most of the day there’s excess capacity. During peak demand batteries charged by solar where used to meet demand, but nobody is building battery banks to store solar energy for 2AM. Non battery backed Solar instead offsets power used in the day but that’s simply a cost saving measure making it independent of increases in demand. This is why China added 210 GW of solar in 2023 year even though demand didn’t rise by nearly that much. Wind faces the same issue due to dependability. As such the added demand from crypto has ~zero impact on how much non battery backed solar or wind gets added. Instead it simply increased how often fossil fuel power plants get turned off.

by Retric 3y ago

hamburga 3y ago

Source?

Mathieu95 3y ago
Look up US energy mix.

keyringlight 3y ago

Yes, it's hard to get much distance out of that logic. If that was the case there'd be little reasoning for efficiency as incandescent lightbulbs would also be incentive to expand power generation. It delays turning off dirtier generation even if more modern and efficient plants get built.

015a 3y ago

Wrong. And not just a little wrong; a LOT wrong. 86% of new energy capacity added in the United States in 2023 was from non-fossil fuel sources. [1] https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1304-august-21-2023-2023-non-fossil-fuel-sources-will-account-86-new#:~:text=For%202023%2C%20added%20capacity%20will,for%2014%25%20of%20the%20total https://www.energy.gov/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1304-augu....

JumpCrisscross 3y ago
> 86% of new energy capacity added in the United States in 2023 was from non-fossil fuel sources They're using 2.3% of power, not 2.3% of green power. Also, every watt of green power crypto takes is another displaced to fossil. I am sympathetic to the argument that what one does with market-rate power is one's own business. But the environmental argument for crypto is bunk.
twojacobtwo 3y ago
Wouldn't the current supply ratio be more accurate, if we can't determine exact sources?
Retric 3y ago
Capacity isn’t the same as utilization. Crypto is on 24/7 but the rest of the demand curve isn’t flat, so most of the day there’s excess capacity. During peak demand batteries charged by solar where used to meet demand, but nobody is building battery banks to store solar energy for 2AM. Non battery backed Solar instead offsets power used in the day but that’s simply a cost saving measure making it independent of increases in demand. This is why China added 210 GW of solar in 2023 year even though demand didn’t rise by nearly that much. Wind faces the same issue due to dependability. As such the added demand from crypto has ~zero impact on how much non battery backed solar or wind gets added. Instead it simply increased how often fossil fuel power plants get turned off.