What happens when the "Greens" object to bitcoin

[Erkallys]

The ecologist are very minor in term of public opinion, and they basically complain about anything, so I think it is not worth the energy, the money and the time to address their complains. What people must get in their mind is that electricity can not be stored, so if the electrical excedent is not used for something awesome like Bitcoin, they will simply let it disappear for nothing.

[The_Dark_Knight]

@Hazir: I also do not like these "selective Greens" that are against certain technologies and not others. For example, many people that label themselves as "Green" are now against hydroelectric power which is one of the cleanest and cheapest forms of electricity generation. But oh, it changes landscapes! (Like most things humans do ...)

But I either do not believe the opposite side (these "global warming is a lie" folks). And the problem of agriculture's methane emissions is well known. It's one of the reasons why some "Greens" are vegans/vegetarians.

And yes, I think the Bitcoin community should definitively think about solutions to reduce the environmental impact of mining.

We can care about that when bitcoin works as it should and not before, with confirmations so slow and expensive bitcoin developers cannot stop to worry about such a thing, some people may think that is selfish but that is the way everything works, just look at cars at first the most important thing was to create a reliable car now that we have them we can make them more efficient and the same is true for bitcoin only when bitcoin works as it should we can consider to make it more efficient.

[arklan]

to maximize profits of BTC mining, cheapest possible electricity is required. therefore, the problem solves itself. sure, i may not want to drop 10,000 USD (1 btc. ) on a solar system for my home, but hell, if i run miners as well, they're obviously, unquestionably reach a return on investment, eventually. because if you're not paying for electricity, but just the 1-time cost of panels and miners, they can run forever. even BFL miners could turn a profit under that circumstance.

therefore, eventually the big miners will switch to renewables like solar and wind. to not do so is to waste money.