Does cryptocurrency mining produce more pollution?

[PotterMiner777]

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

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[adaseb]

You need to understand that it needs to take energy which is valuable to be able to secure the network. If it didn't require any actual work then would it be as secure? Probably not.

So just like banks and offices leave their lights on at night for security bitcoin is no different. It needs to require something that is available for most at a cost for decentralization and security.

This is why the miners who use electricity and pay for it get rewarded with block reward and fees. I'm sure it's possible to make it greener but most likely wouldn't be efficient.

There is wind power and solar energy but how much of bitcoins hashrate does that equal too? Probably not even 1%.

[Ailmand]

It has been discussed a lot of times in this forum. Some mining farms use alternative energy since it is more cost-efficient and environment-friendly. Even paper money, digital cash, banks cause pollution, imagine the amount of plastic and papers and energy they consume to produce cards, money, coins, ATM, receipts and etc.

[o_e_l_e_o]

This has been discussed many times before. Have a look at the following threads:

[2019-06-16] Bitcoin Mining Consumes 1% of Global Energy, Report Reveals
Here's food for thought: Bitcoin's carbon footprint
Coinshares research: 74% of Bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world

Not at present.

The report discussed in the first thread I linked to above, shows that bitcoin mining was estimated to use around 0.2% of global electricity production at time of release (the news article incorrectly stated 1% - see my post in that thread for a breakdown). Hashpower is steadily increasing, but the efficiency of mining equipment is increasing faster, so this percentage is likely to drop rather than increase as one might expect.

Also note the report in the last thread linked above, which shows that almost three quarters of bitcoin mining is powered by renewable energy, again a figure which is likely only to increase. Note that only 15% of general electricity consumption in the US is from renewable sources.

When you compare to other things that you don't even give a second thought to - lighting, heating, air con - the amount of energy used by bitcoin is an order of magnitude or two smaller. Add in the fact that bitcoin uses over 4 times more renewable sources, and the pollution caused by bitcoin is minuscule in the grand scheme of things.

[Colt81]

It has been discussed a lot of times in this forum. Some mining farms use alternative energy since it is more cost-efficient and environment-friendly. Even paper money, digital cash, banks cause pollution, imagine the amount of plastic and papers and energy they consume to produce cards, money, coins, ATM, receipts and etc.

Indeed. Cryptocurrency mining is environment-friendly because it doesn't produce gases that come from cars, factories, volcanoes and so on. The things that you only need in cryptocurrency mining is a lot of graphics card in a computer and an air-conditioned place to cool down your computer while mining, that is why there are no any chances for crypto mining to produce more pollution.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

It has been discussed a lot of times in this forum. Some mining farms use alternative energy since it is more cost-efficient and environment-friendly. Even paper money, digital cash, banks cause pollution, imagine the amount of plastic and papers and energy they consume to produce cards, money, coins, ATM, receipts and etc.

Another overlooked point of energy use is video streaming. ref https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45798523
From the article:

The lead scientist, Rabih Bashroush, calculated that five billion downloads and streams clocked up by the song Despacito, released in 2017, consumed as much electricity as Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic put together in a single year.

All in all it makes the energy used by crypto mining rather insignificant.

[teosanru]

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

I think it's not exactly pollution which these mining procedures are making. Atleast directly. They are consuming Electricity and emitting heat obviously. We generally don't constitute it as any type of pollution. But yes it's leaving a hell lot of carbon footprints. But the truth is almost every activity of ours is leaving such carbon footprints. There are far more polluting industries much useless than Bitcoin which needs to be take care of first. Moreover, most of mining is being done in developed or developing countries which are more or less on renewable sources of Energy which ensures it's not even effecting pollution indirectly.

[Slow death]

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

I know this has been discussed several times, but what you should ask yourself is:

How Long Will Bitcoin Mining Be Sustainable? If miners now complain that they have losses or make very little profit, then I wonder what mining will be like 10 years from now? the cost of electricity will be much higher 10 years from now and how will mining be? Some people may tell me that the bitcoin price will also be much higher than the current price, but I ask again what if the bitcoin price is not much higher 10 years from now?

[Krislaw]

Mining is environment-friendly and doesn't leave much carbon or waste. The only pollution that mining cause is the noise that comes from the GPU fans and the heat that comes from it. Mining rig can be set up by any body in their home and it's cost-effective.

[kro55]

there is no doubt that as long as we have PoW consensus based cryptos,we need more and more electricity and Crypto mining is consuming more electricity then electricities consumed by few small countries. The solution is PoS but I dont think BTC can be shifted to PoS. So I say yes crypto mining is not environment friendly at all.

[hello_good_sir]

It uses quite a bit of electricity, and it's pretty obvious that the huge mining farms that are usually run in China don't help with the environment, but I don't think this is an issue that people need to be focused on.

Banking companies, tech companies, etc, etc, they all spend 100x more electricity and populate the planet more, if we truely want a solution, we need the big people to move towards a more renewable energy source and everyone else to follow.

[Harlot]

Compared to factories that product non-biodegradable products such as plastics, styrofoams, metal cans, and nuclear waste? Or compared to literal mining operations depleting our natural and limited resources rapidly? The idea that Bitcoin/Crypto mining is contributing to more waste compared to them is just some kind of black propaganda just to shift our minds in the real problem. This is just one of the things a nocoiner would just say just to point out a kind of negative towards Bitcoin yet they completely ignore more contributors to the pollution as compared to crypto mining. In crypto mining you just need electicity to power it and if you are using renewable energy then you aren't really contributing to the ecological damage in our world.  

[uneng]

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

I think it won't cause much damage on long run because green clean energy solutions are even more common and powerful nowadays. There is solar, wind, hydro energy sources and many investiments going on these concepts, like Tesla business, which is making a big success with solar energy production and development.
We shouldn't fear the usage of technology thinking it is harming the planet or something like this, otherwise we wouldn't be on the current technological developed level we are today. Pollution is a consequence of this technological improvement, until we achieve the perfection we need to accept the *collateral effects*.

[Kyraishi]

So just like banks and offices leave their lights on at night for security bitcoin is no different. It needs to require something that is available for most at a cost for decentralization and security.

Hmhm. A banks electricity spent on powering their offices can probably cover all of the electricity used to power bitcoin mining operations. Currently, there is not a big enough carbon footprint to care, but this is definelty food for thought.

We need to move away from burning fossil fuels, and instead move to a more renewable future, where we are powered off wind, water and solar electriciy.

It has been discussed a lot of times in this forum. Some mining farms use alternative energy since it is more cost-efficient and environment-friendly. Even paper money, digital cash, banks cause pollution, imagine the amount of plastic and papers and energy they consume to produce cards, money, coins, ATM, receipts and etc.

Another overlooked point of energy use is video streaming. ref https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45798523
From the article:

The lead scientist, Rabih Bashroush, calculated that five billion downloads and streams clocked up by the song Despacito, released in 2017, consumed as much electricity as Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic put together in a single year.

All in all it makes the energy used by crypto mining rather insignificant.

Jesus, that's a lot... Very interesting actually.

[Harlot]

~snip~

Sorry, but crypto mining firms using hydroelectric for example.
Draw Power away from the Grid, in the past the Dams would sell their excess to another utility,
this other utility uses Coal Plants or Diesel Generators or Nuclear Plants.
Which means when the mining firm uses all of the Dam's excess energy, the other utility has to use more coal, or diesel , or Nuclear to keep their side of the grid stable. Which can be even worse, if the Dam has to Buy from the other utility using coal,diesel, or nuclear, because the miners are exceeding their Dam's generating capacity.

All Crypto PoW Miners increase Pollution, even the ones using all renewable energy.  


FYI:
What people need to understand is the electric grid is composed of multiple sources of electricity ,
when someone sucks up the majority of a cleaner renewable energy,  then the difference is made up by the dirtier pollution causing ones.
  

Well we are only talking about dams here that is being shared by the public but what about dams or renewable energy built for that certain purpose and that is too only generate electricity enough to run their mining operations? I've read dozens of articles before where mining farms are buying off decommissioned or unused renewable developing facilities which means they aren't sharing to nobody but themselves., just like this one. Still this can't prove that crypto mining is more dirtier compared to the things I have previously said.

[AndySt]

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

I think it won't cause much damage on long run because green clean energy solutions are even more common and powerful nowadays. There is solar, wind, hydro energy sources and many investiments going on these concepts, like Tesla business, which is making a big success with solar energy production and development.
We shouldn't fear the usage of technology thinking it is harming the planet or something like this, otherwise we wouldn't be on the current technological developed level we are today. Pollution is a consequence of this technological improvement, until we achieve the perfection we need to accept the *collateral effects*.

The most important thing is that the *collateral effects* do not bury modern civilization under them. The entire current struggle for green energy and technology often degenerates into a shift from environmentally and economically prosperous countries to poor countries that cannot afford such luxuries. But the earth is one and it will surely boomerang back.
And if you dig deep, you can find harm in green technologies - hydroelectric power plants, for example, destroy the ecosystem downstream.

[o_e_l_e_o]

Jesus, that's a lot... Very interesting actually.

Exactly. If you look at the guy above complaining that cryptocurrency mining is responsible for 10 million tonnes of CO₂, then sure, that sounds like an awful lot, but put it in context and it is next to nothing. First of all, he conveniently misses out the fact that that is over a 3 year period (2016 - 2018), meaning the real figure is 3.33 million tonnes per year. Console gaming (not including PC and mobile gaming) generates 30 million tonnes a year. Streaming online pornography generates 100 million tonnes per year. Global CO₂ production is around 40 billion tonnes per year, making bitcoin less than 0.01%.

Bitcoin is a fraction of a drop in the ocean.

[qwertyup23]

<snip..>

Oh definitely! The reason on why most cryptocurrency miners choose a designated location for their mining is due to the amount of energy used during the entire process. Countries who have a tropical climate are at a disadvantage, as the amount of energy would increase thus more cost in during the process of mining.
The pollution it creates not only contribute to the climate but also to the aggregate pollution as well.

This is also the reason on why most equipment in the mining have been thrown-out and rarely do you see them recycle by other users and miners.

[squatter]

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

The energy used in Bitcoin mining is largely renewable and green -- solar, hydro, wind. Solar and wind are becoming the cheapest forms of electricity, so this trend will only continue. See here: Bitcoin mining is greener than most large-scale industries: report

Regarding coal-fired and other fossil fuel electricity, Bitcoin miners also utilize already-generated electricity that would otherwise be wasted by grid inefficiencies. In other words, a non-zero portion of the hash rate isn't really adding to electricity consumption. It's taking excess electricity that's already been generated. This is called "load balancing." Some people predict that large-scale Bitcoin miners will increasingly strike up load balancing agreements with power generators because it's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

[ranochigo]

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

The energy used in Bitcoin mining is largely renewable and green -- solar, hydro, wind. Solar and wind are becoming the cheapest forms of electricity, so this trend will only continue. See here: Bitcoin mining is greener than most large-scale industries: report

Regarding coal-fired and other fossil fuel electricity, Bitcoin miners also utilize already-generated electricity that would otherwise be wasted by grid inefficiencies. In other words, a non-zero portion of the hash rate isn't really adding to electricity consumption. It's taking excess electricity that's already been generated. This is called "load balancing." Some people predict that large-scale Bitcoin miners will increasingly strike up load balancing agreements with power generators because it's a mutually beneficial arrangement.

It doesn't matter if its generated by renewable energy or not. In countries like China, a lot of the farms uses renewable energy. It is mostly due to their proximity to such facilities. However, most parts of the countries are still largely dependent on coal as a method of producing electricity. The energy that was utilised could very well be used to supply to others and the dependence on coal would be much lower. Until the whole world is using renewable energy, Bitcoin would still have some contributions to the pollution, albeit indirectly.

Its important to note that due to the nature of ASICs, it is difficult to repurpose them for anything else. This makes it more economical to dispose them directly as opposed to recycling them. It thus contribute to the problem of e-waste.