Bitcoin and global warming

[tim_took]

I think our main problem is the huge electricity expense induced by mining and its noxious effect on the climate. This is, to my mind, the only serious argument against Bitcoin.
Alleviating the electricity expense should be one of our priorities. If we do not do it for the sake of the Earth (which we really should) we should at least do it selfishly because governments will not tolerate this forever and they will be right. The more the exchange rate increases, the worse it gets, of course.
Some solutions exist though: first there is proof-of-stake, of course. This technology may be too young to be deemed reliable enough but we should at least start considering it.
If we do not like proof-of-stake I think we could drammatically decrease the electricity expense by stopping monetary creation now. Nowdays Bitcoin is famous enough to remain secure even if miners earned transaction fees only. And if as a whole there are 16.5 M coins instead of 21 M, this does not make much of a difference. That is even good for holders. To make miners agree with that solution, they must be compensated for their lost income.  More precisely, active miners must be compensated because they have already bought ASICs. Futures miners do not need to be compensated. Since mining is a competitive industry, future miners will make no profit on average, whatever the reward scheme. To compensate active miners we could decide that the next 2016 blocks yield, say, 100 new coins and then 0 forever. Everybody would win and the Earth above all!
There are probably many other solutions and I wish the community cared a little more about this fundamental issue.

The majority of ICOs I've invested in recently are using green energy. Actually, that was a huge argument for.

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[Inikoo]

This huge energy consumption is bad for the Earth, but good for many parties, and so do not think it will be changed. Enourmos companies are already behind.

[deppil]

This huge energy consumption is bad for the Earth, but good for many parties, and so do not think it will be changed. Enourmos companies are already behind.

Come on man. bitcoin only contributes little to the electricity used. after all the world will be more advanced and electricity as the main resource for using bitcoin and primary resources will certainly be increasingly innovated. many companies are beginning to innovate with solar electricity or other innovations. so I don't think bitcoin is bad environment

[BitBite5]

I can say for myself that I care much about ecology and think this is really huge problem but on the other hand I don't think bitcoin is so big electricity consumer. Some other activities and industries are much more dangerous in that sense and the percentage that is used for bitcoin mining is not considerable.
Still in the future maybe some alternative solution could be found.

[RickeyRush]

Bitcoin mining is really contributing in the global warming but as others are saying even banks are doing the same maybe when the time comes that bitcoin replaced the currency fiat system then it will be an acceptable use of energy and contribution to the global warming.

[Sultanar484]

The world economy is based on paper currencies in most of the countries like USA, China, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and others. We know paper currencies are made of wood and when we cut wood, oxygen decreases and carbon-dioxide increases and carbon-dioxide is one of the main reason of global warming ( caused by afforestation). So, paper currency is more liable of global warming than Digital Currencies.

[halfmil]

Global warming is mostly a leftest political ideology and there is plenty of fake news out there about it. There is also a lot of evidence suggesting we are heading the opposite direction towards another ice age cycle.

[jbarcenas18]

For me, I don't think that bitcoin mining have a big impact on global warming. It is the nuclear bomb testing and smoke belching that really contribute of global warming. Each one of us care about global warming and want to help by reducing and recycling.

[kucritt]

The whole global economy is based on mining and burning energy resources that have been stored within the earth for millions of years. Bitcoin is based on the one reliable thing in life: greed. It is foolish to expect people not taking the shortest (-sighted) route to monetary wealth. That is why I am suspicious about crypto energy projects.

i agree with you global warming is happen because of greed people and foolish people that want to make profit by themslevese without care about the condition in the world, use more energy is makes global warming happen

[CoinsGazer]

The relationship between bitcoin and energy has always been complicated. The claim about excessive energy consumption may be a bit exaggerated. At least there is not enough speech to prove that global warming has anything to do with mining. But the development of virtual currency needs to move towards sustainability, encourage new innovations that reduce emissions, and inspire some people to develop carbon-neutral currencies.

[fuer44]

stop mining activities with high spec hardware which costs a lot of electricity. make bitcoin a fair industry, with all those who become investors with relatively similar capital.

[mornabo]

Bitcoin mining is really contributing in the global warming but as others are saying even banks are doing the same maybe when the time comes that bitcoin replaced the currency fiat system then it will be an acceptable use of energy and contribution to the global warming.

Excessive use of electricity will also affect the environment, I would think that mining is also bad for the environment because its need much energy and electricity, but if you only use bitcoin for transactions or trade, it doesn't use too much electricity, so it doesn't give bad effects and global warming

[sultanGol]

Changing the Bitcoin creation mechanism by decreasing the total amount of Bitcoin is something, which is against the basic idea of Bitcoin, never going to happen IMO.

[Favemanji]

I strongly recommend that the source of the energy used in Bitcoin Mining should mostly come from renewable energy, like those coming from the sun, wind, water, etc they can really be of great help...

[muarip]

stop mining activities with high spec hardware which costs a lot of electricity. make bitcoin a fair industry, with all those who become investors with relatively similar capital.

It becomes one of the things that makes global warming even higher on this earth and it's true because hardware that takes up a lot of electricity will make it happen.

[Burogh]

I strongly recommend that the source of the energy used in Bitcoin Mining should mostly come from renewable energy, like those coming from the sun, wind, water, etc they can really be of great help...

I am believe bitcoin electricity consumption not too large. Its true if thats a problem, we can use alternative energy as power source because we are living on innovation era. With renewable energy, we have cheaper cost on electricity

[cc80aa]

yes, bitcoin can contributed to the global warming because more energy use can cause effect in our environment like mining bitcoin we can use more energy to fast in mining.china more people are going in mining and they are using coal energy and can cause more effect in our environment.

we have a new study to lesser energy consumption in mining bitcoin, proposing decarbonzing bitcoin : law and policy choices for reducing the energy consumption of blockchain technologies and digital currencies.

Bitcoin is here to stay, and so future models must be designed without reliance on energy consumption so disproportionate on their economic or social benefits.

[jcojci]

I think bitcoin is not related to global warming and I believe there is another thing that can cause global warming. The electricity for bitcoin mining is less than the total electricity in all country, but if because of bitcoin mining, global warming is on everywhere, then we can convert the electricity by using another source. I am sure that we can use wind power, water power to convert into electricity so the bitcoin mining process can continue and we can reduce the electricity for another thing.

[AniviaBtc]

I think bitcoin is not industrial product which contribute to the global warming and i think that bitcoin is the currency which is better the economy and it is the crypto so it is not transported through vehicles and other ways.
bitcoin is good for those who have no other course of income while through this forum bitcoin donation is good for the society i think it is contributing much to the economy while it is not taking any thing from them in reward.

Got a point. But we cannot remove the fact that people needs energy in every actions involving the usage of machines or technology. But then we should take the opportunity having cryptocurrency or bitcoin to finance researches that will solve those kind of problems. On the other side, i guess global warming is inevitable too just like death.

[randall_boss]

Yes, there is more and more evident that the cost to mine bitcoin is actually more expensive than bitcoin itself - which, in reality, makes it impossible to make money if you mine your own bitcoin. Additionally, it is bad for the environment - neither of those sound good to me