Maybe looking at mining as a business process would be helpful here? I am not a miner, so ill probably miss something. But here it goes... Please correct me if there is errors in here.
Like any other process, we can state that miners take some set of inputs and produce an output. Conversion of input to output produces entropy (i.e. disorder. For this post, we'll call it environmental footprint). The inputs are:
- Mining hardware
- Electricity
And the output is:
Hashing power for the bitcoin network (i.e. fuel of the bitcoin protocol)Anything else required to run the Bitcoin network (bandwidth for full nodes, etc.) is being ignored for the sake of simplicity. I would imagine it would be negligible comparative to mining too.
Hardware contribution to Environmental Footprint: Currently, PoW in the Bitcoin protocol is just work for the sake of work. It has no other use besides deciding who publishes the next block (in a decentralized way, that anyone can can contribute to, etc.). Furthermore, miners are currently enjoying the efficiency of ASIC mining rigs which are specifically built for the block reward puzzle. Based on this, we can say that the mining rigs are not used for other industry applications and the
environmental footprint for manufacturing ASICs contribute solely to bitcoin's
environmental footprint. In times when there are advances in chip technology and mining rig architecture, the effective lifespan of a mining rig reduces. As a result, when tech changes, the
environmental footprint of bitcoin
increases.
This also means, that these ASIC rigs have to be disposed of. Where do they go? are they recycled? this also contributes to the
environmental footbprintElectricity contribution to Environmental Footprint:Electricity usage is complicated. Each miner has different locations and therefore have different electricity usage profiles (e.g. being in a hot location requires more electricity to discharge heat to the environment compared to being in a cold location). Also, different locations have difference in accessibility energy conversion methods (e.g. HydroElectricity, Geothermal, Burning coal, etc.) which come in at different prices based on the miner's location. Also the Bitcoin protocol will, based on game theory, consume more electricity when the block profit increases.
(block profit = (
BTCvol_txFees +
BTCvol_block reward)*
BTCprice).
Block profit indicates how much a miner can spend on their business process inputs.
So understanding the
environmental footprint would, i think, require an analysis of these two parent industries. Also, we need to think about the miner and their focus. Some miners who are big, have the capacity focus on environmental factors. Others are purely thinking about minimizing electricity cost and maximizing efficiency of conversion from Electricity to Hashing Power to survive and expand.
Does Bitcoin increase the environmental footprint?Bitcoin adds to the global
environmental footprint. Unless we can utilize the "Work" in Proof of Work to some other useful application (e.g. instead of hashes, run a simulation for economic policy or something), then bitcoin is producing entropy solely to run the Bitcoin Network. Which is akin to using corn and sugarcane to make bio-fuel instead of food. Right? I mean that electricity could be used elsewhere (in homes, in some other industry) or we could be just producing less electricity which is absolutely the best for our environment. With Bitcoin around, we have another exclusive process electricity must be used on.
Is Bitcoin it friendly to the environment?If bitcoin is effectively catalyzing the conversion of electricity production to renewable forms, then even if it is an extra source of entropy for now, its better for the future. Although effectively is the key word in that sentence.