A more environmentally friendly currency?

[John (John K.)]

Bitcoin already is the more environmentally friendly currency. People just refuse to see it because of their focus on a large distributed network of computers.

Do some research on how much energy is required to print paper money. To grow the cotton. To harvest it. To refine it. To print it. To distribute it. To store it. To secure it. Only to then remove it from circulation when it is too old and start all over again. Take a look at how much money the US prints every month. Then add in all the energy required to run the various systems on top of it. Banks. Checks. ATMs. Humans working at banks and driving to and from work every day. Armored vehicles. Credit Cards. The VISA network. The list can go on and on, but I hope you see my point by now.

Bitcoin can replace most of these things with the one distributed network.

The thing is, no one has been able to create a system which accomplishes the same things as Bitcoin without the network of computers doing proof of work calculations. Most of the replacement suggestions lead to a system that can be gamed, which is useless and a step in the wrong direction. Until some genius comes up with something better, Bitcoin already is the more environmentally friendly currency.

This.

[xxjs]

Energy consumption for the bitcoin network is not that bad. Here is an estimate:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134136.msg1443574#msg1443574

[vdragon]

Hi, according to Wikipedia the Bitcoin mining process "requires intense computing power, electricity and significant investment as it solves hashes through bruteforce to verify transactions and add them to the network's transaction log." So I was wondering if bitcoins and the bitcoin exchange mechanism could be adapted or replaced by a currency that was more environmentally friendly?

Some ideas:

Mine "Carbon"

By seeking out carbon dioxide capturing programs and reselling the carbon certified as captured. "Carbon" could work as a clean exchange mechanism. A currency and exchange mechanism measured in grams (or kilos, tonnes etc) of CO2 or equivalent captured.

Mine Clean Energy

By seeking out wind farms and so on and reselling the energy certified as clean. A currency and exchange mechanism measured in Joules (or kilojoules, megajoules, etc) of clean energy produced.

Mine Environmental Data

Bitcoin is harnessing enormous computing power, why not put that power to good use, distributed computing of climate models and so on. A currency measured in bits (or bytes, kilobytes etc) of data crushed by computation.

 There is a simple answer to these questions - people like to get paid, and believe it or not, 95% are in the mining bussines to make money. They are not really interested in natire and stuff

[bitcoins...BIIITCOINS]

The overall positive impact on society, and ultimately the environment would vastly outweigh the energy needed to sustain the growing energy demands of miners. 

It is an abstract concept for sure, but a valid one.