Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin promotes renewable energy.
Bitcoin reduces consumption.

Many of renewable energy potential lies far away from consumers and electricity highways. But those potentials can still be realized thanks to bitcoin mining. Bitcoin mining is converting energy into digital data that can be easily transferred via satellite internet, from any part of the world. So, all that unreachable renewable energy can already be monetized without waiting till when electricity highways be built.
For example there was project of building huge solar facility on Sahara desert, where there are no electricity highways, nor consumers around. Bitcoin mining is the easiest way to join global energy market for many underdeveloped nations.

With the rise of human population and economic prosperity, there is an unsustainable rise in general consumption. We are unsustainably consuming resources on Earth, causing enormous pollution of environment, causing human inflicted climate change, which will lead to more and more catastrophic cataclysms. The future on Earth is worrisome. Our economic and particularly monetary system promotes consumption. It is good for economy, bad for environment. What if we don't need to consume that much, what if we can live a modest life and still be happy? What if we can save to consume later when issues with environment are resolved?
Deflationary Bitcoin gives you that, it encourages you to save, the longer you save the more value you get. Inflationary fiat encourages you to spend now, because later it will be worth less. Don't be selfish, it is not only about you, but your children, grandchildren, entire offspring. Bitcoin is about being responsible for future.

Mining is the feature of bitcoin that it is doubtful.
Of course mining can happen via renewable energy  panels and protect the environment from pollution.
However, electricity is the cheapest raw material in order to mine bitcoin and this is the reason why it is mostly used - opponents are using this fact as an argument in order to declare that it is not good for the environment.

We are using the bitcoin on our transactions because it is easier, faster and secured and even we already have a lot of benefits using the bitcoin still it has an impact to the environment first is the miners you already stated because miners use an electricity too because they are mining with the use of their computers and some of them are using those computers for 24/7 just to mine a lot of bitcoin it has a lot of consumption of the electricity and where do resources come from it is from our natural resources. If you are in a country which has a low electricity bill it is good for mining but if you aren't don't attempt to mine because the bills are higher than your earning but still it is on your decisions. Also, we have cloud mining today you can use this to mine too.

Bitcoin is good for the society development and for the jobless people all around the world.People can earn by mining,they need to spend some for the mining setup and for electricity.In trading,they can earn by a margin investment and holding without the panic sense make the people to earn more and more from it as a profit.So social and economical development occur by the bitcoin and it won"t clean up the Environment.It make use of more electricity and may some how spoil the environment.If you make use of some renewable source of energy,it will not spoil the environment.

The renewable part is a good one. Hope it's fully renewable.
I think one of the few problems with the mining aspect is energy, resources consumption and centralization problem. Hopefully it becomes very energy efficient in the future, decentralized, does not take too much space and resources

I don't think PoW can ever be considered environmentally friendly.
For the second point, yes, bitcoin's deflationary nature incentivises saving rather than spending - but it's arguable that this will result in bitcoin becoming more of a store-of-value coin rather than one for everyday transaction. I'm not convinced that bitcoin by itself can reduce consumption.,

Well, I believe that indeed that there are many ways we can look at things. Indeed, with the scenario you painted above, Bitcoin mining using renewable energy which may mostly be inaccessible by ordinary consumers and hereby utilized for economic gains in cryptocurrency can be better. I know that many of environmentally-conscious opponents of Bitcoin are all ready to point to massive energy requirement to run Bitcoin mining but if the majority of mining can be done with renewable energy then maybe we can turn their opposition to appreciation. In addition, we also have to consider that all industries (including banks and financial institutions) are all using power without exemption.

Actually the reduce in our monthly consumption of electric bill is up to us and also on the area we are living like for example here in my country, the mining industry is not in demand anymore because here in my country our monthly consumption is very expensive to pay and in reality when you are a miner here, most of your earning will be alloted for the monthly electrical billing and only a small amount of your payout will remain.

Good point but we should assume that some nations has high electricity rate value and mining would be certainly unprofitable, the electricity consumption was the focus question. What I mean is that there are nations with less electricity rate and they would get the advantage of earning more while others would take less from mining. This is the major issue to point out, if the scenario where most of the people started using bitcoin there would be an unbalanced profit from each individual with the same investment.

Bitcoin is not good for environment. That is a fact and we can easily accept that fact.

Bitcoin is not good for the environment because for it to run it has to use electricity, much electricity. Transactions are mined so electricity is used. It is an electronic money so every time spending with BTC is done electricity will also be used. It has to be verified online so electricity will be used once again. Moreover, it needs technologies which are mostly made up of plastic materials such as smart phone, mining hardwares, computers, etc.

We don't need to heap praises on Bitcoin for what it is not worth. Bitcoin is not here to address environmental degradation.

Bitcoin also promotes digital payment that can prevent the spread of the New Corona Virus and other contagious diseases. It may sound unrealistic but if we consider what we currently experiencing today, Bitcoin can be one of the major help along with similar digital payments like PayPal and MasterCard that can prevent the passing of this contagious disease to other people. If we have so many choices of digital payment and many people are using it, that can become one of the reasons to slow the number of people who got infected by the New Corona Virus.

I think only in the long term and then only if crypto including BTC gets mass adoption that the huge amounts of electricity to mine these coins can offset the direct negative effects BTC and blockchain based cryptocurrencies due to less financial infrastructures, handling etc. However, as it is at the moment the effect BTC and others have on the environment are by not any means positive but with time and more adoption this can turn right around.

The good point that I see from this topic is people or even the government can build Mining Farm in a deserted area with renewable energy and then monetize it.

But after it's no longer profitable, they can divert it to another thing with that existing renewable energy.

I think you're wrong because you think Bitcoin is good for the environment. This is completely wrong because Bitcoin's mechanism is POW - which uses the computing power of a computer to confirm a transaction. But a computer needs power - an energy loss. The energy consumed will turn into heat - causing the Earth to heat up - which has a negative impact on the environment. The truth is that the "Bitcoin Mining" process consumes enormous amounts of energy, about the size of an entire large city operating, and the amount of heat emitted from the computers is a huge number.

This is a good example of using the solar energy but starting a bitcoin mining facility there, it isn't going to be ideal. There are factors that you need to consider in starting one and you have forgotten about the temperature. This is just an example though but there's also a bit of reality in it.

Another energy source could be the hydro-electric, I think somewhere in the province of China there's this one big mining facility that uses hydro-electric to sustain their mining farm.

^ As a bitcoiner I understand that OP is only thinking of the positive things that a bitcoin can do to the environment that instead of the solar energy that can be converted in Sahara dessert could only go to waste them as well use it in mining bitcoin. In reality, we have a low percentage of electricity that is being used for consumption that came from renewable energy nowadays and that is the sad part of it because no one dares to make Sahara dessert as an energy farm but if this will be a push in the future miners will really gain profit. I am irresolute on the idea of bitcoins reduces consumption for if there will be a global adoption happens and BTC replace fiat currency it will be the same people will use BTC to spend on the things they need and want it only that bitcoins are always kept in the bitcoin holders acct and cannot be misplaced at any time.

I don't really know about Bitcoin mining and electricity and the level of impact mining can have on our environment. There have been a lot of people claiming that the impact is too much and very bad for our environment. But another study was released to debunk the first, and it claims that the impact of Bitcoin mining on our environment is not as much as the first study claims.

This is not something I really look into and I am not a miner, but if mining is having any negative impact, then it's time we consider something different, maybe a different form of energy so that we don't end up causing a serious harm to our world. People do always come up with some cross perspective to puzzle us all of sudden; this topic must be that kind of one. I must google to clear many things regarding this now.

There's controversial data on the ratio of renewable to not ecologically friendly energy for mining, but nobody suggests that it's fully eco-friendly. So taking this into account, I'd say that Bitcoin is not good for environment per se, but it's sort of neutral. Mining requires electricity, but it's the sources of electricity that make it eco-friendly or not, Bitcoin itself doesn't have much to do with it. I was actually hoping the op would offer some non-standard arguments about how the production of 'paper money' is not environmentally friendly and compare it with what's needed for BTC, but unfortunately that's not it, so I'm a bit disappointed.

Interestingly this is a built in feature of "money that does not lose value over time" such as gold coins or bitcoin. You can see it for example in virtual currency used in games, you keep to that "gold" saving it until you can afford to buy what you really want. Its more of a savings based economy, rather than getting in debt to get it quicker but then become a slave.

Also banks become redundant for the most part. Fiat money loses value, and you have to put it in bank so that it doesn't lose as much, but then the bank can bankrupt, thanks to the legalized ponzi scheme known as fractional reserve banking. Another side effect of "money that does not lose value over time" is that the remaining banks have to switch to full reserve practices, unless the client specifically want to loan his money, in which case the money becomes unavailable until paid back or returns when it gets in the danger zone of non-fulfillment.

Now consider if the entire world stops using cash. Think of the many banknotes and coins that don't need to me printed or minted again and again and again. Isn't this important? Of course there will be less banks, you should count that as well.

As i said many times, mining becoming unprofitable means it shrinks, and the problem is solving itself. This also opens the doors for the renewable miners, those using clean energy, as the new (easier) difficulty accommodates better for them. There will be more smaller farms than the giant Chinese monsters. Those who prepared and invested in renewable energy, are ahead than the rest. If you depend in paying an utility bill, you were doing it wrong, and thus went into red.

Shrink and diversify, the free market is at work.

* And yes, i don't call it deflationary because its a bit of a misnomer, in reality the fiats and altcoins lose value overtime, because they are designed intentionally to do so (and those pegged to them). Its actually not bitcoin's fault that they do so. An economy under deflation works according to the Austrian school of economy. Throw away whatever the Chicago school says, and learn how it works. There is nothing to fear, embrace it and leave the inflation coins and their debt induced expansion cycles behind.

Never again should any politician have the power to make money out of thin air, thus impoverishing everyone's wealth. If the USD falls, you WILL remember this...

That's down to miners and the energy industry. It's possible that sometime relatively soon clean energy will be cheaper than any dirty alternative, if only because they've died out rather than being priced out but that's likely too.

A whiter than white Bitcoin would certainly add to its aroma. And the trend of power producers mining themselves is likely to accelerate as well. That added incentive is a whole new market that could drive more innovation and lower prices for infrastructure.

"Eco-Friendly Crypto mining" In an article in Cointelegraph. Upstream Data, a company in Texas is building equipment for the oil and gas mining company to use excess gas to mine cryptocurrencies. This is an efficient use of resources as potential as oil and gas.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/eco-friendly-crypto-mining-is-the-future-as-green-solutions-gain-steam (https://cointelegraph.com/news/eco-friendly-crypto-mining-is-the-future-as-green-solutions-gain-steam)

https://www.upstreamdata.ca/ (https://www.upstreamdata.ca/)

Really believe that it's better for the nature and people.

There are certain points in which we can say that bitcoin is good for the environment. One of it is that Bitcoin uses Digital transaction which promotes paperless transaction that obviously could lessen the amount of trees that are being cut down. On the other hand, Mining bitcoin uses electricity and we all know all the transactions will not be made without electricity.

There are a lot of advantages and disadvantage s if you use bitcoin. What you have said are some of those examples. Bitcoin is indeed good for environment as long as the users can gain profits from it. One of the biggest advantage of using bitcoin is it will help the economy of one country because the higher its demand, the higher the value rises and the people can earn a great and large amount of money.

See Bitcoins is itself good for the environment but when it comes to Mining it does depend on the user who is doing the job , how he is doing it ?
If he is using some renewable sources of energy then that's perfect for everyone , for the environment and for the man itself.

The benefits of renewable sources of energy is two fold:
It cuts the cost one has to pay for the electricity and such , which is actually a lot when it come to Mining . ( Maintaining it is another task but good investment strategy makes sure it does stay for years to come). Secondly it helps the environment A LOT!

I have read some posts made by miners who are thinking of using natural gas or solar energy for the operation.

How good it is .

With just a little bit of investment you will be able to enjoy long term returns and at the same time a lot of respect from the community.

Therefore I do think the idea is real but one needs to consider the renewable sources of energy for the Mining.

:)

I hope you are joking about those trees. Paper money isn't produced directly from trees but rather from cotton mixed with cellulose obtained from sawdust.

Trees aren't being cut down to produce paper money. They're cut down to build houses and make furniture and the byproduct of this process is converted to wooden pellet you can find in rabbit's cage, cat's litter box and other things including paper bills.

I'm not so sure this is completely true.
Bitcoin is not so nature friendly as it might look at first glance. For mining a lot of electricity is spent which is bad for environment, unless it isn't from renewable sources.
Also, transactions are not so eco friendly and as well.as mobiles and computers that also produce CO2 emition.
I'm not saying that Bitcoin is harming environment as some other things but it's not completely environment friendly.

The fact that GPU/CPU has a wattage of 600-1200 watts that consumes a lot of electricity, then what more in an ASIC mining rig?

Based on what I read, ASIC mining rigs have a power consumption of 1000-6000 watts so obviously, it's not an eco-friendly thing. Some countries that use combustion byproducts are not really good for the environment and especially for the health of the people. Most of the source of electricity has an environmental impact on our air, water, and land, which greatly affect many things.

First, we should know what kind of Bitcoin activities are considered. So, we should break up it one by one to know the impact of Bitcoin on the environment, whether it is good or bad.

1. Mining impact
if it is about mining Bitcoin, I think that it will relate to the electrical energy to spend around the world. The issues that are always raised related to Mining Bitcoin (or even other cryptos) is the use of electricity. As known, Bitcoin mining needs high supply of energy/electricity. It becomes the main issue that will be always faced. However, we can count the countries that spend on mining. Again, this may not give a big impact moreover the miners are reducing by days.

2. Environment activity
Bitcoin allows us to do something online. In this case, we can buy something online, earning money, making transaction, and also creating good environment using Bitcoin. it will decrease the use of energy and decrease the pollution. However, of course, it will depend on each personality in order to spend the energy activity.

I am quitely unfamiliar with bitcoin mining, though I know the basics of it and I am thinking that alternative energy is good in electric consumption of miners. In addition, it is really a eco-friendly because renewable energy can sustain bitcoin mining consumption as well as our electric energy will not be depleted.

But upon your comment, I think it depends upon the rigs that we will use in mining bitcoin. And if they are really high consumable rigs then it consumes a lot of electricity which in the end, our nature as well as humanity will harm.

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I have seen an article before, it talked about what happens if we convert in solar energy. Though it is good in bitcoin mining because it is free and renewable, it may affect also the plants since the sunlight that may absorb by plants will be absorbed also by solar panels. Therefore, solar panels can seize the energy that plants may absorb.

your wondering if how much it contribute and then you said it contriubtes not much ?  but you said it was paperless .   paperless already means alot because we dont need to cut trees to create money just like we did on fiat   . so many process required to create a fiat money not just cutting trees alone but in btc we only need a small amount of electricity to obtain it or produce it   .  but your right when you say next generation will benefit the most of it because right now only few people are using btc but in the future i know this will climb up

In my opinion bitcoin is not entirely good for the environment, because it involves a large electricity consumption for bitcoin mining.
But when compared to paper money which is bad for the environment, bitcoin is indeed much better. Just imagine paper money
requires a lot of plastic to make credit cards is really bad for the environment. If we talk the goodness of bitcoin for the environment,
the most visible is the use of bitcoin at least air pollution can reduced. Because bitcoin transactions that are fully digital make no need
for vehicle activity.

Maybe looking at mining as a business process would be helpful here? I am not a miner, so ill probably miss something. But here it goes... Please correct me if there is errors in here.

Like any other process, we can state that miners take some set of inputs and produce an output. Conversion of input to output produces entropy (i.e. disorder. For this post, we'll call it environmental footprint). The inputs are:

• Mining hardware
• Electricity

And the output is: Hashing power for the bitcoin network (i.e. fuel of the bitcoin protocol)

Anything else required to run the Bitcoin network (bandwidth for full nodes, etc.) is being ignored for the sake of simplicity. I would imagine it would be negligible comparative to mining too.

Hardware contribution to Environmental Footprint:
Currently, PoW in the Bitcoin protocol is just work for the sake of work. It has no other use besides deciding who publishes the next block (in a decentralized way, that anyone can can contribute to, etc.). Furthermore, miners are currently enjoying the efficiency of ASIC mining rigs which are specifically built for the block reward puzzle. Based on this, we can say that the mining rigs are not used for other industry applications and the environmental footprint for manufacturing ASICs contribute solely to bitcoin's environmental footprint. In times when there are advances in chip technology and mining rig architecture, the effective lifespan of a mining rig reduces. As a result, when tech changes, the environmental footprint of bitcoin increases.

This also means, that these ASIC rigs have to be disposed of. Where do they go? are they recycled? this also contributes to the environmental footbprint

Electricity contribution to Environmental Footprint:
Electricity usage is complicated. Each miner has different locations and therefore have different electricity usage profiles (e.g. being in a hot location requires more electricity to discharge heat to the environment compared to being in a cold location). Also, different locations have  difference in accessibility energy conversion methods (e.g. HydroElectricity, Geothermal, Burning coal, etc.) which come in at different prices based on the miner's location. Also the Bitcoin protocol will, based on game theory, consume more electricity when the block profit increases.

(block profit = (BTCvol_txFees + BTCvol_block reward)*BTCprice).

Block profit indicates how much a miner can spend on their business process inputs.

So understanding the environmental footprint would, i think, require an analysis of these two parent industries. Also, we need to think about the miner and their focus. Some miners who are big, have the capacity focus on environmental factors. Others are purely thinking about minimizing electricity cost and maximizing efficiency of conversion from Electricity to Hashing Power to survive and expand.

Does Bitcoin increase the environmental footprint?
Bitcoin adds to the global environmental footprint. Unless we can utilize the "Work" in Proof of Work to some other useful application (e.g. instead of hashes, run a simulation for economic policy or something), then bitcoin is producing entropy solely to run the Bitcoin Network. Which is akin to using corn and sugarcane to make bio-fuel instead of food. Right? I mean that electricity could be used elsewhere (in homes, in some other industry) or we could be just producing less electricity which is absolutely the best for our environment. With Bitcoin around, we have another exclusive process electricity must be used on.

Is Bitcoin it friendly to the environment?
If bitcoin is effectively catalyzing the conversion of electricity production to renewable forms, then even if it is an extra source of entropy for now, its better for the future. Although effectively is the key word in that sentence.

We can increase the volume of mining if we use alternative energy sources. The World's population is growing exponentially and every day we consume more and more energy, especially for cryptocurrency mining, because there are more and more miners.

In such other aspects, bitcoin is really essential and can help other sector in times of need. There are people who are donating their cryptocurrency for our environment, to restore those forests, to take care of the animals and wildlife, and for those zoos who are left behind during this pandemic.

Our crypto can do more if we are willing to give, even a small amount will do. Let's help the promotion of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency by donating it to those things that we should take care of, we need to sustain the lives of our natural resources because we are the number one who benefits their value.

This is where we can say that bitcoin is really good for our environment, let's help each other promote bitcoin in this simple way of giving.