A good comparison: Current estimated power consumption of the Bitcoin network: 1.67 Mega watts. (6,028.57 megawatt hours http://blockchain.info/stats http://bl

A good comparison: Current estimated power consumption of the Bitcoin network: 1.67 Mega watts. (6,028.57 megawatt hours http://blockchain.info/stats http://blockchain.info/stats). Typical power generated by a single Boeing 747: 140 Mega Watts. There's hundreds of these flying right now, yet no-one is appalled about the carbon footprint. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power)