Bitcoin to use 0.5% of world’s electricity by end of 2018

[coinminerdotcom]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

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[freesia_pnp888]

the mining is getting busier as there's only 4mil coins left, right?

[HabBear]

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

I don't think mining facilities are necessarily striving for power usage efficiency, but they're certainly trying to find power cost efficiency. There's a very big difference between the two. Mining operations need the electricity, they don't care how much they're using to keep their mining machines going, they just want it to be low cost. And finding renewable energy sources isn't always available or cost effective.

It would be great if some of these mining operations sought to improve energy usage efficiency because those trial-and-error learnings could benefit the entire world.

the mining is getting busier as there's only 4mil coins left, right?

Mining is getting busier because Bitcoin is at $8,000 each. It's the revenue that can be earned that's driving the work. It'll take more than 100 years to mine the remaining 4 million coins.

[eternalgloom]

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

What's the problem with Bitcoin mining taking up so much power? Would this be an issue if the missing capacity was filled with additional renewable energy?

I really think that in some point in the future, we're really not going to be worrying about power anymore. Once we transition to highly efficient and environmentally-friendly renewables, power consumption might not even be an issue anymore. We're still pretty far off from that, but I do think we'll get there eventually. (If we don't destroy our planet first)

[wiser]

This is one of the major reasons I'm almost certain Bitcoin will eventually be replaced as the cryptocurrency of choice for most people who are into cryptocurrencies.

There are already coins out there that do far better what Bitcoin does, and also do more cool things that Bitcoin can't do right now, and they use far less electricity to do it.

Bitcoin is enjoying first mover advantage now but it won't last forever.

[amishmanish]

This is one of the major reasons I'm almost certain Bitcoin will eventually be replaced as the cryptocurrency of choice for most people who are into cryptocurrencies.

There are already coins out there that do far better what Bitcoin does, and also do more cool things that Bitcoin can't do right now, and they use far less electricity to do it.

Bitcoin is enjoying first mover advantage now but it won't last forever.

For this to become a big enough issue, you'd need crypto adoption to a level where enough people will actually begin to worry about the electricity usagee. Right now, except those trying to peddle their DPoS or PoS systems, nobody is worried about how much electricity the basic security feature of bitcoin uses.

The market is mostly concerned about the next levels of adoption. None of the so called alternatives have been tested or attacked enough to merit the kind of investments that have gone into bitcoin. The big investors and regulators know this. If these alt-coins gain enough adoption and value, they will be attacked and the truth will be out in the open.

If the energy consumption becomes a major issue, the miner community will definitely find a way to address it rather than letting bitcoin lose value. The chances of another currency becoming strong enough AND important enough before bitcoin can adapt are terribly low.

[squatz1]

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

What's the problem with Bitcoin mining taking up so much power? Would this be an issue if the missing capacity was filled with additional renewable energy?

I really think that in some point in the future, we're really not going to be worrying about power anymore. Once we transition to highly efficient and environmentally-friendly renewables, power consumption might not even be an issue anymore. We're still pretty far off from that, but I do think we'll get there eventually. (If we don't destroy our planet first)

I highly doubt it is much, due to the fact that most of the mining happens in cheap areas (such as China) which rely heavily on coal miniing. Which everyone knows that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, clean at all about coal. So if green energy has even 5 percent of an involvement in all bitcoin then I'd be insanely surprised, but it is still possible.

No one is going to be interested in being efficient when being efficient is going to cost more than not caring at all. It's sad, but people do only care about their bottom line at the end of the day. That's just how the world works. We'll see what the future holds for green energy.

[19nataliya12]

If the rapid growth of the network at the end of 2017 continued, bitcoin would use all the world's energy production by 2020. Maybe before that would not have happened, but 5% of the world's electricity, according to Vris, the network could well use in the near future.

[MintDice]

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

What's the problem with Bitcoin mining taking up so much power? Would this be an issue if the missing capacity was filled with additional renewable energy?

I really think that in some point in the future, we're really not going to be worrying about power anymore. Once we transition to highly efficient and environmentally-friendly renewables, power consumption might not even be an issue anymore. We're still pretty far off from that, but I do think we'll get there eventually. (If we don't destroy our planet first)

I highly doubt it is much, due to the fact that most of the mining happens in cheap areas (such as China) which rely heavily on coal miniing. Which everyone knows that there is nothing, and I mean NOTHING, clean at all about coal. So if green energy has even 5 percent of an involvement in all bitcoin then I'd be insanely surprised, but it is still possible.

No one is going to be interested in being efficient when being efficient is going to cost more than not caring at all. It's sad, but people do only care about their bottom line at the end of the day. That's just how the world works. We'll see what the future holds for green energy.

Agreed. You'd think with the emergence of disruptive technology like blockchain there should be an equally as revolutionary or at the very least improvement in regards to the energy powering it. Alas, there is no such bilateral effort. Hopefully this becomes a more serious issue in the eyes of the public and we can begin looking at renawable energy for mining--it makes so much sense in the big picture. We could try using surplus energy from solar and wind sources or even look further into energy-from-waste methods.

[Conasse]

0.5% would be interesting if it was compared to something. If it's to say how bitcoin is a waste of energy, what about the shops that use electricity during the night while shops are closed (for exemple)

[Paractor]

If the rapid growth of the network at the end of 2017 continued, bitcoin would use all the world's energy production by 2020. Maybe before that would not have happened, but 5% of the world's electricity, according to Vris, the network could well use in the near future.

Here in India people are using large solar panels to generate electricity in order to run their miners.  They are mining since years and getting more profit than those using city electricity and paying bills since years. Getting free electricity is important in order to get more profit as more hard its gonna be with time as bitcoin halving happens so the algo to solve.

[jjacob]

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

Electrical efficiency would not immediately result in a decrease in electricity consumption. What matters is the cost of electricity and the price of Bitcoin. If electricity is cheap, miners will add more capacity. It doesn’t matter if the mining operations are efficient.

[stompix]

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

Without government subsidies, green energy is not cheaper and Germany has paid triple for it's fancy turbines and panels till now.

What's the problem with Bitcoin mining taking up so much power? Would this be an issue if the missing capacity was filled with additional renewable energy?

It's not as simple as that.
Let's assume we use 1 Gwh out of coal and 1 Gwh out of solar.
Now adding another 1 Ghw of wind would led us to shut down the coal power plant...but..since we have another energy hungry industry that came out of nowhere and eating another Gwh, we will still have to keep the coal burning.

The good news, the problem is easy to fix.
The bad news is that it involves bitcoin going below 100$  
The VERY good news is that the "analyst" with his claim that the network will consume 3x more power by the end of 2018 is estimating a price increase of 3x also .

[mindrust]

This is one of the major reasons I'm almost certain Bitcoin will eventually be replaced as the cryptocurrency of choice for most people who are into cryptocurrencies.

There are already coins out there that do far better what Bitcoin does, and also do more cool things that Bitcoin can't do right now, and they use far less electricity to do it.

Bitcoin is enjoying first mover advantage now but it won't last forever.

For this to become a big enough issue, you'd need crypto adoption to a level where enough people will actually begin to worry about the electricity usagee. Right now, except those trying to peddle their DPoS or PoS systems, nobody is worried about how much electricity the basic security feature of bitcoin uses.

PoS is not better than PoW. While I agree these electricity usages are ridiculous I also believe that there simply isn't a better solution than PoW to secure the network.

There are coins like BURST however which do HDD mining with little to none electric usage. If we are going to make a change, the answer shouldn't be PoS, it should be an environment friendly PoW.

[AngelSky]

Crypto mining is occupy the more electricity but some countries are supporting mining platform because many miners are fixing the solar panels it will make some electricity so government also supporting in mining platform. But I don't believe this word number of coins are available in the Crypto market but you should mention Bitcoin is occupy 0.5% of world's electricity.

[drmilind2004]

This will provide one more pretext for global regulatory bodies to put the brakes on Bitcoin.  Nothing beats a 'clean n green' halo around one's head when they use this as a flogging stick to beat Bitcoin with.

On the other hand, even in terms of the Cryptocurrency world's own internal dynamics, this makes other coins more attractive vis-a-vis Bitcoin. All that they need is the luck of Bitcoin to proliferate wildly.

[dothebeats]

the mining is getting busier as there's only 4mil coins left, right?

Yes, and because of the price, its difficulty is also soaring up, so you can also add that one in terms of why most miners are 'busy' at this point in time.

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

It would be cheaper on paper and in the long run, though at first you need to spend a huge amount of money to get those turbines, panels and whatnot installed and maintained before you go fully green on mining power. Also, most electric companies offer a special contract on mining farms I think, that's why most are still staying on regular power.

I really think that in some point in the future, we're really not going to be worrying about power anymore. Once we transition to highly efficient and environmentally-friendly renewables, power consumption might not even be an issue anymore. We're still pretty far off from that, but I do think we'll get there eventually. (If we don't destroy our planet first)

Well, there are already a huge number of prominent people advocating towards greener energy. It's just that most governments can't do shit since they rely heavily on oil and most oil companies would do anything just to stay prominent and be profitable, so yeah, no major advancements for renewables except for a few countries.

[yoseph]

the mining is getting busier as there's only 4mil coins left, right?

It's amazing how many people are now getting into mining now that the the difficulty rate is getting harder and harder each day. This has without doubt caused a lot of power being used on a global scale.

[Stonetium]

Proof-of-Work electricity is the cost of decentralized currency. Inflation is the cost of centralized currency. Which is cheaper? via https://twitter.com/naval/status/996120405868994560

[franky1]

network hashrate recent minimum was 28 exahash = 2mill s9 ant miners at 14terrahash

now the top GPU does 1mhash so would need 14000 gpu to do 1 asics job. yet an asic only uses the electricity of a few gpu's, thus is more energy efficient than the past.

imagine how things would be if this was still a GPU hashing era, but with todays difficulty

28billion GPU's would use ALOT more electric

..
i wont even get into the details of the electric needed if we were in the CPU mining scenario at todays difficulty. as that electricity requirement would be soo much more.

[drmilind2004]

Proof-of-Work electricity is the cost of decentralized currency. Inflation is the cost of centralized currency. Which is cheaper? via https://twitter.com/naval/status/996120405868994560

The solution is to devise a Proof-of-Work mining mechanism that isn't so resource hungry. But then, isn't that what every other new ICO aims to do?!

If we ever chance upon a Proof-of-Work that is as satisfyingly rigorous and meticulous as is the case with Bitcoin, then and only then will Bitcoin depreciate to the status of 'toy money'. But, if Bitcoin can happily co-exist with smart contract equipped Ethereum, it may well outlive others is well!

[Hazir]

I'd actually be more interested in seeing how big of a part green energy is of those statistics...
I'd imagine it could be a lot cheaper to generate your own power with either solar or wind, especially for large-scale mining operations.

Not really, not always, not everywhere. Sadly, in most cases, it is cheaper to use existing power network than to build alternative green powered one.
Plus, from what I know some large mining farms are still kinda undercover and would like to remain off the radar - with masses of solar collectors or wind turbines is impossible.

[Sonajin_Coin]

Proof-of-Work electricity is the cost of decentralized currency. Inflation is the cost of centralized currency. Which is cheaper? via https://twitter.com/naval/status/996120405868994560

The solution is to devise a Proof-of-Work mining mechanism that isn't so resource hungry. But then, isn't that what every other new ICO aims to do?!

If we ever chance upon a Proof-of-Work that is as satisfyingly rigorous and meticulous as is the case with Bitcoin, then and only then will Bitcoin depreciate to the status of 'toy money'. But, if Bitcoin can happily co-exist with smart contract equipped Ethereum, it may well outlive others is well!

I agree that we need a less power hungry PoW solution but also note that is sort of PoS which on many networks requires little computing power.  I don't believe Bitcoin and Ethereum mining will be possible or sustainable for much longer because of the cost vs reward and I don't think the world's power grid can take much more (this is why Ethereum is going Casper/PoS).

[PokerStein1]

Maybe after some time core developers will think about to change mining system.. They can find a more efficient way to mine bitcoin.

[Mr.Dick]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

It'S kind of alarming how much engery is used, thats something which should be discussed, too.

[Phlaser]

More work in the morning industry of Bitcoin. This will increase more to be supplied in order to meet up with the power required for effective mining. Bitcoin is changing the world

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

[Ucy]

network hashrate recent minimum was 28 exahash = 2mill s9 ant miners at 14terrahash

now the top GPU does 1mhash so would need 14000 gpu to do 1 asics job. yet an asic only uses the electricity of a few gpu's, thus is more energy efficient than the past.

imagine how things would be if this was still a GPU hashing era, but with todays difficulty

28billion GPU's would use ALOT more electric

..
i wont even get into the details of the electric needed if we were in the CPU mining scenario at todays difficulty. as that electricity requirement would be soo much more.

What an interesting revelation! How about designing energy efficient/cheap GPUs for the Crypto world so that atleast with $200 to $500  MANY homes could afford new or fairly used GPUs. It is extremely important to decentralize mining space.

I wish some special funds can be set aside for research in this area. A lot of money is being made in the Crypto world but nobody is investing in researches. Who is going to research and develop these things eventually? — the controlled corporations, the "governments" = Centralization = anti-decentralization.

[amishmanish]

What an interesting revelation! How about designing energy efficient/cheap GPUs for the Crypto world so that atleast with $200 to $500  MANY homes could afford new or fairly used GPUs. It is extremely important to decentralize mining space.

I wish some special funds can be set aside for research in this area. A lot of money is being made in the Crypto world but nobody is investing in researches. Who is going to research and develop these things eventually? — the controlled corporations, the "governments" = Centralization = anti-decentralization.

This is a good point. As to who is doing the research? Who has the right incentive to ensure that mining becomes more energy efficient. Due to ASIC miners, the efficiency has increased manifolds compared to CPUs and GPUs but then you have more and more miners coming up.

Seems like the only upper limit to energy consumption is based on the amount of miners that the major mining hardware companies like bitmain, Cannan etc. can manufacture. Bitmain is the biggest player and we have seen announcements from the likes of Samsung and Intel to go into bitcoin mining. Due to the realtive monopoly here, Bitmain doesn't really need to become more efficient. If someone like Samsung suddenly came up with a more efficient miner, we may have some competition to make them more efficient as it directly affects the cost of mining and ROI.

Competition in manufacture of mining ASICs is one hope towards better miners. The other is when governments decide to do some positive regulation and stop giving away old coal-fired plants or cheap hydroelectric energy for mining. If "mining farms" are discouraged by policy measures, manufacturers will need to come up with efficient hardware to remain within policy guidelines.

[jseverson]

That's pretty interesting, but how are the numbers on a per country basis? China still seems to generate majority of the network's hashrate; does mining there cause any substantial damage to the country at all? I would guess that's a no, and that it would also be a no for any other country with significant mining operations. That means that this particular statistic isn't worth raising any alarms over.

Even if it does alarm regulators, they should be basing their decisions on statistics within their own country, because there's no point in citing worldwide numbers for domestic regulations. I don't think Bitcoin mining has ever caused severe power shortages anywhere yet, except maybe on some severely depressed areas, where it should probably be rightfully throttled.

[sieemma]

Bitcoin has helped most of us so it won't be too much a problem if it uses such an amount of electricity. There are industries that use more than such an amount yet we don't benefit from them. 

[stompix]

network hashrate recent minimum was 28 exahash = 2mill s9 ant miners at 14terrahash

now the top GPU does 1mhash so would need 14000 gpu to do 1 asics job. yet an asic only uses the electricity of a few gpu's, thus is more energy efficient than the past.

imagine how things would be if this was still a GPU hashing era, but with todays difficulty

28billion GPU's would use ALOT more electric

It would not have happened, without a price x10 or x100, we would have had a hashrate like BTG ....and we know what happened to that one  

The hashrate and thus the energy consumption is kept in check by the reward the miners get, those predictions about how much energy is going to be consumed are useless if we don't know the price per BTC.
Miners are still making profits right now, with a jump to back 20 000  or even further.... this is going to get really funny.

I don't know why people are surprised of this, it was known and discussed from long ago what will happen, for example

That's pretty interesting, but how are the numbers on a per country basis? China still seems to generate majority of the network's hashrate; does mining there cause any substantial damage to the country at all? I would guess that's a no, and that it would also be a no for any other country with significant mining operations. That means that this particular statistic isn't worth raising any alarms over.

Not yet, what if we triple the consumption or if we reach McAfee's prediction?
The consumption right now is negligible but if BTC grows it will go only one way..

[daarul50]

The use of bitcoin electricity is much less than the use of electricity by various industries in the world even we can not benefit from the existence of the industry and far inversely with bitcoin which has given some benefits for us all.

[laryillary]

The power consumption for mining bitcoin is growing at such a rate that if the pace continues, then by February 2020 this process will require all the electricity that humanity now consumes

[niz3r_nade]

I think the power source already supports mining. but most miners are looking for efficient electricity costs for them. they never pay attention to how much power they spend to run the mining tool.

[MrDom2]

https://themerkle.com/2-out-of-the-box-icos-that-will-surge-in-2018/

[kwabeedat]

Mining and electricity consumption is still an issue that people talk about. I think it's about time we supported green energy production. With that we can fuel our own mining farms and reduce the burden we put on national grid. But anyways this is crypto, we'll get a solution if it becomes a problem

[KingScorpio]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

mark my words, the world will blame you and bitcoin for poverty and economic issues, the competing altcoins will blame you for poverty, local officials (to improve trust in their communal currency) will channel the hatred and anger of their poor on bitcoin and similar altcoins that just waste electricity or how i call them the "propaganda coins" bitcoin will be as much hated as it was initially supported.

i wrote a rump article about the inevitable consequences of this.

[tegarp90]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

Yeah this is good for crypto, it proves ppl are start interesting about bitcoin or other crypto.
And also the miners is keep increasing the price of VGA cards and make it rare.
it's really hard to find nvidia 1080 in my country with a logic price and the stock is almost always 0

[jgaspar]

Wow! This is insane! all the things statistics about bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are insane for me now! I love it.

[Washball]

This is why Envion, which now turned out to be a scam or whatever, has a very successful ICO and raised more than $100 million in very short time. 31000 Investors believed in this mobile mining plan, making use of solar plants for sustainable energy.

[richardsNY]

And also the miners is keep increasing the price of VGA cards and make it rare.
it's really hard to find nvidia 1080 in my country with a logic price and the stock is almost always 0

It's artificial control of supply from the manufacturer. If Nvidia or AMD want, they can flood the market with so much supply, that the prices of graphic cards will drop back to their pre mining boom. It's all part of their game plan, and I am sure that they won't be changing anything to that. It works extremely well, so why would they even change things? These businesses are worth more than ever before, and they want to keep it like that. I see a lot gamers complain, but in the end they still pay the premiums because they don't have any other option. The prices won't decrease in the coming years, so either adapt to the situation or stick with lower tier graphic cards.

[Kayum10029]

May be possible. Now a days bitcoin is using world trading ecosystem.... educational platform.... marketing &financing...... why not electricity...

[jhonnydeep87]

Bitcoin will use all of the world's energy production by 2020 perhaps before that will not happen but about 6% of the world's electricity. If the network can be used as well as possible in the near future.

[Hirameki]

And also the miners is keep increasing the price of VGA cards and make it rare.
it's really hard to find nvidia 1080 in my country with a logic price and the stock is almost always 0

It's artificial control of supply from the manufacturer. If Nvidia or AMD want, they can flood the market with so much supply, that the prices of graphic cards will drop back to their pre mining boom. It's all part of their game plan, and I am sure that they won't be changing anything to that. It works extremely well, so why would they even change things? These businesses are worth more than ever before, and they want to keep it like that. I see a lot gamers complain, but in the end they still pay the premiums because they don't have any other option. The prices won't decrease in the coming years, so either adapt to the situation or stick with lower tier graphic cards.

Dont worry mate, as long as the cryptocurrency gains dominance we would see many electronic companies that will manufacture devices that are specified for mining only. Samsung had already made its statement and it something that we can hold on.

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

It'S kind of alarming how much engery is used, thats something which should be discussed, too.

You shouldn't. Energy is everywhere we just need to utilized it for out benefit. Technical people always find ways on how we can create or harvest energy.

[mmo4me.2016]

I think Bitcoin and altcoin need to change to ensure transaction security and reduce power consumption! Electricity or other energy resources are needed for daily living needs!

[TommyJr]

Are you vary much sure about it sir.

[Scavagers]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

I know that bitcoin mining consumes a lot of power but what makes it consumes more electricity is that it needs to be powered so that it can run smoothly. Mining facilities have powerful units and it is not just one but many units running at the same time, let us include the ventilation. Those units needed to be in a cool place so that it will not over heat. Mining facilities are not just in one place, there are many around the world and they mine more than they can mine before. Let us add those individual miners from their homes,it also consumes a lot of electricity.

[budismile]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

In this case, I think the bitcoin has consumed so much power. but it is comparable to its use, given its demanded a fast time.
and hopefully with the addition of electric power, it can help you and your country

[zolfa]

Yes, mining spends a lot of electricity, it needs innovation or using a tool that can save power supplies. but it is difficult because mining usage is adjusted to the difficulty level.

using other electric power such as waste power, solar power, and also hydro miner is the solution for saving power supplies.

[Axelseseclevz]

And then,what's the matter when bitcoin consuming 0.5% of worlds electricity,or even more than of that percentage. Consuming electricity through bitcoin is reasonable,unlike the others. It can helps people to earn profits in a good ways.

[r32godzilla]

That would not be an issue if the used electricity gets replaced or produced by green power.

Bitcoin consuming more electricity is an allegation often used by critics and they would not even speak about other firms consuming huge electricity.

[Veterock]

In fact, it's very bad that mining takes away so many of our resources! After all, electricity is extracted in a very complicated way and very harmful for mankind!

[ALI AKBAR]

Electricity efficiency will not reduce the electricity costs immediately. If the price of electricity is cheap then more power will be added. Bitcoin can be used to use 0.5% of the electricity worldwide by the end of 2018. Because most countries around the world are using Bitcoin and they will pay their electricity bills and other bills with these coins.

[whitewolfofcoinstreet]

There will be innovations that alleviate these issues whether it is green energy more efficient mining rigs or different protocols (maybe all three?) I wouldn't worry too much.

[iagyei259]

If bitcoin use of electricity can be a disadvantage to the world energy,then the use of solar can be use to mine bitcoin

[sniper23]

0.5 of world's electricity?

Including wind and solar energy, I guess?

[Kprawn]

GPU's used in gaming cards to play video games  = 0.1% of the world's electricity

CCTV cameras used in Banks and supporting financial industries - 0.01% of the world's electricity 

Lights in Banks and supporting financial industries - 0.01% of the world's electricity 

Air-conditioning units in Banks and supporting financial industries  - 0.01% of the world's electricity 

Can you see how useless this type of argument is? We all use electricity for something and we waste a lot of electricity on

things we need. We need Banks and we need Bitcoin and we need to waste electricity on playing games. 

Disclaimer : Percentages were thumb sucked to make a point. It is not the actual global statistics. 

[maodaf]

0.5% is nothing. Computers and ACs are already using much more than that and bitcoins as much more important than these.

[motionerror]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

With mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.

Interesting stats being posted all over the web, a quick google search tells me;

- The Annualized annual cost of mining bitcoin is roughly $3,656,073,069 & revenue is $4,949,099,234 [1]
- Bitcoin uses 1.5% of the total US energy/electricity consumption [2]
- Bitcoin annually is equivalent to the energy needed to provide 53.2 percent of the Netherlands' annual energy needs. [3]

Now, I personally think that we will need to find a more green way to mine, perhaps using this much electricity may not be sustainable at some point as the hash-rate continues to rise and more miners will start to enter the arena.

Sources:
[1] https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
[2] https://companycompare.co.uk/bitcoin-electricity-cost/
[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/881522/bitcoin-energy-consumption-relative-to-select-countries/

[juljon18]

This seems like fake and bogus news. A half percent of the worlds electricity is a staggering amount.  I have trouble believing this story.  Not saying it's 100% fake but that seems like an awful lot. 

[jpnl0003]

the idea of mining bitcoin is very lucrative and hence has become a business that the globe has decided to venture into and that has greatly increased the world or global consumption of the electricity so the speculation of the increase in percentage the technology will  consume in the time to come is not far fetched.

[shield132]

It will be interesting to know how much electricity does cryptocurrency uses around the world. The fact is that people usually don't mine bitcoins at home because antminers are very expensive and sometimes they don't have so much money at time to buy them, so instead of this, they prefer to buy GPUs which are cheaper and easy to sell anytime.

[PM.coins]

Electrical energy also plays a full role in this digital technology. and will always be needed from time to time. I don't think it can be separated. the more people dabbling in the world of cryptocureency or bitcoin, the more energy that will be needed to support operational performance. and I think it will be more than 0.5% by the end of 2018.

[Phlaser]

Individual mining of Bitcoin isnt child's play considering the finances and time involved to get it all set up. One major challenge is the quantity if energy been consumed within the region mining plants are situated thus an urgent need to get Hugh energy consumption reduced.