Bitcoin and global warming

[miyaka26]

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.

You can compare it to a bunch of vehicles that produce polluted smoke to big factories that contributes the biggest volume of waste and pollution on earth thus Government doesn't take a precautionary action against them because it produces money for them.

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.

That's correct one of the alternative ways is POS that can be more cost-effective and can save a bunch of energy to prevent more pollution but the idea of stopping monetary creation can bring chaos to a country as the majority of firms are dependent by this system.

[mk4]

It's true that a good amount of electricity is being used just by running mining hardware/rigs. But I think this is really irrelevant overall, knowing that there are power plants and other stuff out there that consumes a hundred-fold more electricity compared to GPUs and ASICs.

[trecore4]

I think you are right at this point but there nothing much we can do that easily. People are filled with the greed of earning big money and they will never stop the mining operation because the whole crypto currency will get disturbed like that. There won’t be any easier way to do the transaction if this stops and the electricity will still be needed today or after a decade from now.


There is option of using the solar energy but as we know our miners are real monsters and they can’t get feed on the solar panels as they are very very weak in this regard providing the sufficient electricity. Well lets see where this matter goes in the future and hopefully this will get solved soon. Otherwise the operations for mining will stop surely.

[Andre_Goldman]

electricity wastage is not that big stake ... plastic industry for instance have much more social debit I guess

[oegarod]

It's true that a good amount of electricity is being used just by running mining hardware/rigs. But I think this is really irrelevant overall, knowing that there are power plants and other stuff out there that consumes a hundred-fold more electricity compared to GPUs and ASICs.

Yes, the electricity consumption is truly a big factor that might contribute at least a small portion to the global warming. Maybe in the future electricity for the usage of mining might be produced from renewable energy sources which will not affect the environment to higher extent.

[Pfizer]

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.

I think its very minimal or even neglectable to what really affects global.warming on a major scale. He focus should be in a more bigger scale and mining btc is the least among those.

Yeah it should be low respectively to the other projects using electricity. Bitcoin's production is not that huge and don't consume that much electricity. Think about giant oil production points, they consume tons of electricity.

Bitcoin is still environmental friendly.

[Andre_Goldman]

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.

I think its very minimal or even neglectable to what really affects global.warming on a major scale. He focus should be in a more bigger scale and mining btc is the least among those.

Yeah it should be low respectively to the other projects using electricity. Bitcoin's production is not that huge and don't consume that much electricity. Think about giant oil production points, they consume tons of electricity.

Bitcoin is still environmental friendly.

you can get electricity from renewable sources or not ...

[baedrill]

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.

I think its very minimal or even neglectable to what really affects global.warming on a major scale. He focus should be in a more bigger scale and mining btc is the least among those.

Yeah it should be low respectively to the other projects using electricity. Bitcoin's production is not that huge and don't consume that much electricity. Think about giant oil production points, they consume tons of electricity.

Bitcoin is still environmental friendly.

That's not exactly true. Bitcoin's energy consumption has gone above some countries. Granted, these countries are more on the underdeveloped side, but its consumption is growing steadily, and it may come to a point that it can't be ignored anymore.

[yugyug]

In any form of industry contributes global warming as it consumes more heat, more fuel and more electricity consumption. From mining, manufacturing, oil exploration, medical, agricultural, space, military, car and vehicle industry these are the greater contributor to global warming. Bitcoin industry is just a minimal contribution it might be negligible of about 1 percent i guess.

[yulionoo]

oh man. glad to read that.
you know every people make global warming, like when i online via handphone and my handphone warm up. it make global warming.
i think they are not related one of other thing. except if you mining bitcoin with smoked stuff

[Hydrogen]

With bitcoin and climate change the main issues are #1 emissions and #2 carbon sequestration.

There has been a shift towards so called renewable energy which is promoted as being environmentally friendly. This negates bitcoin's electrical consumption to a good degree.

The main issue with climate change involves 80% of the world's natural forests being cut down. Trees naturally store (sequester) carbon. The destruction of forests reduces the planet's ability to store carbon emitted into the atmosphere.

Another major issue is a large percentage of rainfall being produced by forests. Water is pulled from the earth and evaporated through the leaves of trees/plants. This produces rainfall. Cutting down large swaths of forest reduces water which would normally be evaporated which in turn produces drought.

The only legitimate methods of addressing climate change are afforestation programs. Seed bombing. Fighting desertification. Basically planting trees and protecting rain forests.

[TomCrypto]

But the problem here is that bitcoin could be mined with less energy consumption for the same result.
You cannot compare industry that produce product for real world that need energy to be produce (even if there is more green way to produce it) to bitcoin that produce wealth virtually.
Bitcoin increased mining difficulty over time is a bad way of doing it, energitically speaking.

[Angelia46]

This does have a certain impact, after all, mining will consume energy, but these consumption to some extent can be avoided, POS and POW mechanism is different, is to change the problem

[Zendalet]

With bitcoin and climate change the main issues are #1 emissions and #2 carbon sequestration.

There has been a shift towards so called renewable energy which is promoted as being environmentally friendly. This negates bitcoin's electrical consumption to a good degree.

The main issue with climate change involves 80% of the world's natural forests being cut down. Trees naturally store (sequester) carbon. The destruction of forests reduces the planet's ability to store carbon emitted into the atmosphere.

Another major issue is a large percentage of rainfall being produced by forests. Water is pulled from the earth and evaporated through the leaves of trees/plants. This produces rainfall. Cutting down large swaths of forest reduces water which would normally be evaporated which in turn produces drought.

The only legitimate methods of addressing climate change are afforestation programs. Seed bombing. Fighting desertification. Basically planting trees and protecting rain forests.

Then I have bad news for you. Deforestation is poised to become worse as the world has decided trees are a source of renewable energy.

[thulisman]

In part, if you think about exploiting bitcoin, it affects the power source. But the reality of global warming is largely due to the growing industrial activity around the world. Deforestation in poor and developing countries is also stressful.

[Zendalet]

You can also consider secondary effects from cryptocurrencies. If it helps to increase wealth in poor nations, consumption may rise too. It's only fair they get to enjoy the luxury that rich nations have enjoyed for centuries, but it does mean the world has to find a way to cope with the consequences of higher resources demand and energy use.

[ene1980]

The idea of switching into a cryptocurrency payment may sound good, but the drawbacks are highly toxic especially when it comes to hacking and scamming due to its nature. You may be right that the process of making fiat and gold mining harm the environment but if we adapt the system of payment into digitalized forms, this would create chaos into the economies of countries around the world. We may lessen the the impact of pollution around the world slowly, but in an economic perspective this would destroy markets and may cause hyperinflation in some countries.

I would like to hear about the major drawbacks you are talking about,having a decentralized currency might reduce the inflation factor you are talking about,do you think that the fiat currency will cure the economic crises ,bitcoin mining does cost energy and will it affect the entire global climate ,it is minimal considering the fact that there are other damaging things going on in the industrial world.

[lucifochrome]

This may be bad for the environment, yeah you are right about that but bitcoin is just a piece of the puzzle, there are other contributing factors that affect the environment not just bitcoin. if electricity is just the problem; i meant if that is the thing that is destroying the environment then we should have went back to the darker days but that is not the problem here. I think it is the pollution that is emitted by the factories that produces plastic or other toxic substance, mining bitcoin may have effects to the environment but it is just small; what is emitted by the miners are just heat and not smog.

[ImHash]

I have been hot lately, is this the real reason behind it then? Please guys stop mining so much, I am suffering here half way around the world, Have mercy on flowers and trees I think if BIG Wu stops mining so much of bitcoin and bitcoin cash all together we could feel the chill on earth.
Do you know how many nukes have been detonated for testing purposes?

[william8829]

Does anyone know/have any figures about the total power consumption that bitcoin requires currently? It should be high I'm sure, and should also go even higher in the future. However, compared to other industries, where does bitcoin rank exactly? I would assume bitcoin's power consumption still ranks lower in comparison to most of the business sectors.

a constant total mining draw of just over one gigawatt...That means that, at a minimum, worldwide Bitcoin mining could power the daily needs of 821,940 average American homes.

I would say that qualifies as high.  You could also look at it as giving people jobs. Bitmain makes money selling antminers, miners make money mining and power companies make money selling electricity.

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/ywbbpm/bitcoin-mining-electricity-consumption-ethereum-energy-climate-change