Bitcoin is wasting electricity and are harmful to the environment.. Yea right!!!

[chaoscoinz]

So, we all know everyone is going on and on about Bitcoin mining wasting lots of electricity and how this is harmful to the environment, but have we ever considered how harmful other payment methods are?

Visa and MasterCard have about 65 million customers <old statistic> and we also have debit cards from Banks and also other payment cards like American Express and Diners Club etc. A lot of these cards are replaced once every year and it is made from material that are very harmful to the environment.

Cards are made of several layers of plastic laminated together. The core is commonly made from a plastic resin known as polyvinyl chloride acetate (PVCA). This resin is mixed with opacifying materials, dyes, and plasticizers to give it the proper appearance and consistency. - Source : http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Credit-Card.html

The average American has 2 to 3 credit cards and there were 304 million Visa credit cards in circulation in the United States and 545 million Visa credit cards in circulation outside of the United States in September 2014. Source : https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/market-share-statistics.php

There are about 189 million Americans adults with at least one credit card.

In Q4 <2014> cards in circulation looked like this :

Citigroup -    109,774,131

JPMorgan - 93,847,656   

Bank of America - 79,822,686
   
Capital One - 63,194,228
   
American Express - 54,900,000

Discover - 43,630,772

Synchrony - 31,030,786
   
Wells Fargo - 24,271,107
   
Barclays Delaware Holdings - 16,156,368
   
U.S. Bancorp - 14,440,681

So, looking at some of the statistics and considering that those cards must be manufactured with the use of electricity and also destroyed and ending up in landfills, then I would say Bitcoin's carbon footprint must be minuscule compared to this industry.

Feel free to add some updated statistics and also a graphical presentation of what those millions of cards would look like, if you had them all together. We would circle the earth a couple of times, if we had all the cards that were manufactured, since it was introduced many years ago.  
   

It takes a warehouse full of miners now to turn a true profit on the minting of Bitcoin and other proof of work based cryptocurrencies. It's becoming way too costly and mining the traditional way will eventual become obsolete, taking a back seat to consensus algorithms like "Delegated Proof of Stake".
  Mining was an excellent proof of concept for Satoshi to implement in order to demonstrate the mechanics of Blockchain & Bitcoin.

[Murat]

That type of blame is just like bullshit, When the president of the USA declared that There is no issue of environmental purpose, he doesn't believe that climate is being changed day by day due to heavy use of our vehicle and industry, Not only that but also we are producing a lot of polluting element to the environment everyday, so how they could consider that the activities of Bitcoin are harmful to the environment. Very silly, I think the thing should be reversed, Bitcoin doesn't waste any electricity in comparison to other economic activities, for me, Bitcoin and Blockchain relatively user-friendly and less harmful to the environment.

[wxxyrqa]

The process of harming the environment began a few decades ago, long before the advent of bitcoin.  Today, global warming will bring a lot more problems than we could expect and all because of the greenhouse effect.  It would be better if we thought about harmful emissions into the environment from industrial plants and cars, rather than looking for reasons to defame cryptocurrency.

[fuguebtc]

The issue of plastic along with other hazardous material and electricity need to be addressed in both Crypto and banking system. Climate change measures must be implemented on emergency basis before it gets too late. Clean electricity (electricity from water, wind) is the solution to avoid climate change.

[Kyraishi]

Also, don't forget about the problem with dumping plastic cards and other plastic items, it's very hard to degrade (unlike other items like fruit, wood, natural stuff), which slowly become mush and sink into the ground, plastic stays for centuries and ruins the Earth.

To be honest, bitcoin mining does have a pretty shitty effect on the world, but your looking at a single, tiny chunk that is chipping away at the world, there are a lot of other bigger fish out there and it just looks like you have a bone to pick when your talking about BTC "pollution".

[romero121]

The process of harming the environment began a few decades ago, long before the advent of bitcoin.  Today, global warming will bring a lot more problems than we could expect and all because of the greenhouse effect.  It would be better if we thought about harmful emissions into the environment from industrial plants and cars, rather than looking for reasons to defame cryptocurrency.

Yes, rather than describing bitcoin as the cause for the global disaster happening through mining and other emissions. Decades back itself there were emissions that has caused global climate change. The same has been now getting more and more importance with emerging nature enthusiasts talking about environmental safety.

Now using it a chance some has begun to defame the cryptocurrency as a threat to the global climate change. This is completely a political play, hope the cryptocurrency network will go green with advancement supporting green energy production for mining which is the heart of the entire cryptocurrency network to function flawless.

[bitbunnny]

The process of harming the environment began a few decades ago, long before the advent of bitcoin.  Today, global warming will bring a lot more problems than we could expect and all because of the greenhouse effect.  It would be better if we thought about harmful emissions into the environment from industrial plants and cars, rather than looking for reasons to defame cryptocurrency.

It's true, we began ti destroy this planet long time ago. That stil doesn't mean that only older generations and old technologies are to blame. New technologies and cryptocurrencies also harm the environment, we have to face that, although not in.such big extend as some other human activities. But that doesn't mean we don't have to try to find better solutions when it comes to electricity and emissions that are connected to cryptocurrencies.

[franky1]

The process of harming the environment began a few decades ago, long before the advent of bitcoin.  Today, global warming will bring a lot more problems than we could expect and all because of the greenhouse effect.  It would be better if we thought about harmful emissions into the environment from industrial plants and cars, rather than looking for reasons to defame cryptocurrency.

Yes, rather than describing bitcoin as the cause for the global disaster happening through mining and other emissions. Decades back itself there were emissions that has caused global climate change. The same has been now getting more and more importance with emerging nature enthusiasts talking about environmental safety.

Now using it a chance some has begun to defame the cryptocurrency as a threat to the global climate change. This is completely a political play, hope the cryptocurrency network will go green with advancement supporting green energy production for mining which is the heart of the entire cryptocurrency network to function flawless.

climate change and carbon are not directly linked. the science studies selectively choose to not include water vapour in the atmosphere numbers.
its actually water that cools the planet more and lack of water on land that causes it to heat more

rain forests are called rainforests for a reason.. its in the name. its not called carbon forests
with drainage waterpipes, guttering, concreting over land and ripping up forests and fields its the lack of moisture retained in land that then cant evaporate to cool the air. thus causes temperature rises

studies show that carbon is just 0.04% of the atmosphere. and was 0.03% century ago,
if 2^oc is caused by a 0.01% change. then how come other planets with 95% carbon are not 19,000^oc

if carbon is such a big impact then how come plants survival rate depends on a carbon content of 0.03% to 0.2% thus if w went below industrial era levels just 0.01% back, plants would suffer. but we can go up 16x changes of 0.01% and plants actually thrive

by the way even if we tried to go 100% carbon free. by filtering every bit of air in the atmosphere the atmosphere would not show as 0%

yes we are closer to doing more harm to wildlife by removing carbon than by increasing carbon.
i say this because carbons temperature impact is not a thing. but carbons impact to human and wildlife is.

so dont try bring carbon into the 'climate change' debate but into just the 'life debate' of animal lungs and photosynthesis. as they two separate 'environmental' subjects

climate is about water vapour % not carbon %. sorry, but it just is

[BlackFor3st]

So, we all know everyone is going on and on about Bitcoin mining wasting lots of electricity and how this is harmful to the environment, but have we ever considered how harmful other payment methods are?

Visa and MasterCard have about 65 million customers <old statistic> and we also have debit cards from Banks and also other payment cards like American Express and Diners Club etc. A lot of these cards are replaced once every year and it is made from material that are very harmful to the environment.

Cards are made of several layers of plastic laminated together. The core is commonly made from a plastic resin known as polyvinyl chloride acetate (PVCA). This resin is mixed with opacifying materials, dyes, and plasticizers to give it the proper appearance and consistency. - Source : http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Credit-Card.html

The average American has 2 to 3 credit cards and there were 304 million Visa credit cards in circulation in the United States and 545 million Visa credit cards in circulation outside of the United States in September 2014. Source : https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/market-share-statistics.php

There are about 189 million Americans adults with at least one credit card.

In Q4 <2014> cards in circulation looked like this :

Citigroup -    109,774,131

JPMorgan - 93,847,656   

Bank of America - 79,822,686
   
Capital One - 63,194,228
   
American Express - 54,900,000

Discover - 43,630,772

Synchrony - 31,030,786
   
Wells Fargo - 24,271,107
   
Barclays Delaware Holdings - 16,156,368
   
U.S. Bancorp - 14,440,681

So, looking at some of the statistics and considering that those cards must be manufactured with the use of electricity and also destroyed and ending up in landfills, then I would say Bitcoin's carbon footprint must be minuscule compared to this industry.

Feel free to add some updated statistics and also a graphical presentation of what those millions of cards would look like, if you had them all together. We would circle the earth a couple of times, if we had all the cards that were manufactured, since it was introduced many years ago.  
   

You are really digging into something about the disadvantages of the two and I hate to say that cards are really something that can harm the environment compared to bitcoin that we are only using the electricity to mine them and few powerful rigs.

If crypto currencies will become the man currency then all the cards will be set aside and we can lessen the pollution that it can bring to our society.

[slaman29]

That type of blame is just like bullshit, When the president of the USA declared that There is no issue of environmental purpose, he doesn't believe that climate is being changed day by day due to heavy use of our vehicle and industry, Not only that but also we are producing a lot of polluting element to the environment everyday, so how they could consider that the activities of Bitcoin are harmful to the environment. Very silly, I think the thing should be reversed, Bitcoin doesn't waste any electricity in comparison to other economic activities, for me, Bitcoin and Blockchain relatively user-friendly and less harmful to the environment.

Maybe one of the things we could all do is start by calling it a climate crisis, so that it's not just change (which happens naturally every century anyway).

I think Bitcoin mining is energy intensive, and yes we could do better with campaigning for miners to also try be carbon neutral, but at least mining provides a lot of benefits. Security, being number 1! I wouldn't want to use a shitcoin that doesn't protect me from 51% like BTC does.

[SirLancelot]

The process of harming the environment began a few decades ago, long before the advent of bitcoin.  Today, global warming will bring a lot more problems than we could expect and all because of the greenhouse effect.  It would be better if we thought about harmful emissions into the environment from industrial plants and cars, rather than looking for reasons to defame cryptocurrency.

It's true, we began ti destroy this planet long time ago. That stil doesn't mean that only older generations and old technologies are to blame. New technologies and cryptocurrencies also harm the environment, we have to face that, although not in.such big extend as some other human activities. But that doesn't mean we don't have to try to find better solutions when it comes to electricity and emissions that are connected to cryptocurrencies.

It is only countries that does not know how to control the emission of carbon in their country that are very much concerned about bitcoin being a disaster, for countries like china and the United states, they already have the things that they do to curtail this and in curtailing this does not mean that they will stop every technology that has such emission of carbon, but they have the gadgets that will be out in place to reduce the manner and way that they are being exposed to the atmosphere.

When it comes to electricity, countries like china has a very strong electricity and a very cheap one that no matter how heavy the machine in mining bitcoin is, they might never feel the effect of it on their power system, so we should stop complaining of bitcoin consuming power but countries should be the one to expand more in what they generate.

[scout326]

Alright I think its a little unfair to bitcoin,the planet has always been in a bad shape for as long as anyone can even remember,yea bitcoin in its operation kinda contributes too,but it definitely isn't to blame

[Sadlife]

Humanity was polluting the environment even before bitcoin came in. They blame bitcoin mining because it uses electricity but even ordinary hardware appliances uses eletric power that is on 24/7 like for example aircon that is in corporation. We're all contributing to the earth's destruction and btc mining is not only to blame here. If they want to blame something blame it to electric fossils or blame the one who discovered it.

[Eugenar]

Humanity was polluting the environment even before bitcoin came in. They blame bitcoin mining because it uses electricity but even ordinary hardware appliances uses eletric power that is on 24/7 like for example aircon that is in corporation. We're all contributing to the earth's destruction and btc mining is not only to blame here. If they want to blame something blame it to electric fossils or blame the one who discovered it.

Basically even them creating technologies that only utilizes electricity such as electric cars, motors, etc are also contributing to the pollution to the environment because in the first place where does this technology get their electricity? From coals burning to power the city. So, there's no excuse if bitcoin mining might have impacted the world but what if they use bitcoin and see the benefits of it? They always blame they don't even know what bitcoin is capable of.

[beerlover]

OP is talking about justifying bitcoin mining process by comparing how traditional banking system is awfully destroying green environments but I feel bitcoin's mining process must need a revolution in terms of ecological friendly yet without compromising its security part. POS was a long discussing one to replace the current system but that is not going to happen in my understanding.

Then what are the possible solution against bitcoin mining's environmental issues?
Wasting electricity is not an aspect here but how much heat it will be producing. Because, individuals or separate organisation will bear the cost of electricity and may compensate that with mining rewards. When ASIC companies start following emission control like standards for heat producing then there are possibilities for new level of ASICs to be invented.

This must be an essential thing bitcoin enthusiastic or at least governments must work on regulating mining related things so that in long run we may not harm our beloved nature on our part.

Bitcoin mining industry may grow in million times from what we are having today in coming years hence producing heat due to bitcoin mining may turn as a ecological problem in some perspective unless otherwise mining equipment manufacturing companies will not work on their heat emitting levels.

[sovie]

Electricity produced from non renewable source itself is harmful to the environment. If bitcoin wont use it some other thing will consume it. The problem not is bitocin but electricity production from non renewable sources.

[Wind_FURY]

Proof of Work's real/true potential , as used in Bitcoin, I believe, has not been fully understood yet. What was termed "wasteful", could be Bitcoin's greatest breakthrough.

Thanks Adam Back for the invention of HashCash.

Blockchain-based innovations are as much about new technology as they are about new concepts of governance. In particular, the continued proliferation of Proof of Work (PoW) consensus has the potential to fundamentally change the structure and incentives of the energy markets. By translating physically trapped energy into global and digitally mobile value, the energy economics of production and distribution may change.

https://medium.com/macro-narratives-in-blockchain/tokenization-of-energy-crypto-mining-proof-of-work-the-reinvention-of-energy-financial-markets-2230866f32ed

[Ozero]

Bitcoin is wasting electricity? That sounds like a statement from someone who wants to paint bitcoin in black. BTW, I don't seem to understand how bitcoin is harmful to environment (considering the fact it isn't physical but digital).

Now mankind is massively switching to the use of solar panels, wind farms and other renewable energy sources. Their production and use is becoming cheaper. Therefore, the use of electricity for the extraction of bitcoins and other types of cryptocurrency cannot be a real problem. When mining cryptocurrencies, heat is generated that can be used to warm homes and for other people’s benefits. The problem of environmental pollution during cryptocurrency mining is completely contrived. This is no more harmful than ordinary production.

[Wind_FURY]

Bitcoin is wasting electricity? That sounds like a statement from someone who wants to paint bitcoin in black. BTW, I don't seem to understand how bitcoin is harmful to environment (considering the fact it isn't physical but digital).

Now mankind is massively switching to the use of solar panels, wind farms and other renewable energy sources. Their production and use is becoming cheaper. Therefore, the use of electricity for the extraction of bitcoins and other types of cryptocurrency cannot be a real problem. When mining cryptocurrencies, heat is generated that can be used to warm homes and for other people’s benefits. The problem of environmental pollution during cryptocurrency mining is completely contrived. This is no more harmful than ordinary production.

There was a study/analysis about Germany's love, and investment on renewable energy, and that it actually made electricity production more expensive.

Plus all the debates on the "wastefulness" of POW, especially in Bitcoin, is debatable. Energy tokenization, separation of money and state, and more topics will come to show that it's the real breakthrough in the invention of cryptocurrencies.

[tvplus006]

There was a study/analysis about Germany's love, and investment on renewable energy, and that it actually made electricity production more expensive.

Plus all the debates on the "wastefulness" of POW, especially in Bitcoin, is debatable. Energy tokenization, separation of money and state, and more topics will come to show that it's the real breakthrough in the invention of cryptocurrencies.

Using renewable energy not only reduces environmental damage, but also reduces the cost of mining. Therefore, mining companies are now interested in switching to renewable energy sources. So the theory about the harm of mining on the environment is considered incorrect.