[2021-05-08] Bitcoin’s dirty little secret: It’s not easy being green

[Woodie]

Depending on who you ask bitcoin, the digital currency at the heart of the crypto craze is either a currency or a commodity, a speculative bubble or a safe tool for storing and building wealth.


One thing everyone agrees on is that it has become a staggering consumer of energy and producer of climate wrecking carbon dioxide. Debate between its champions and detractors grows with its price and value, intensified by accelerating global efforts to tackle climate change.

A coal mine in Hutubi County in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Electricity from this area is a major provider of energy for bitcoin mining. CREDIT:GETTY

Bitcoin supporters must now grapple with the reality that built into the cryptocurrency’s design is a seemingly endless demand for energy in the form of computing power.

Readmore https://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/bitcoin-s-dirty-little-secret-it-s-not-easy-being-green-20210506-p57pki.html

[Obito]

If we change the energy source for electricity then we can probably shift the energy consumption narrative that has been plaguing bitcoin. The problem that we are currently facing is that it's not that difficult how to go green but the fact that companies that won't benefit from going green is stopping it from happening.

[acquafredda]

The green brainwashing propaganda is becoming harder and harder to fight. We should not be using any form of energy as across the whole value chain our carbon footprint is massive. So what?
Miners are free to choose whichever energy they want to use and those power plants are NOT intended for bitcoin mining only.
Go blame China, Australia (73% coal!!!), US etc. and all the other coal-dependent energy users.
https://bettermeetsreality.com/energy-sources-energy-mix-by-country-where-major-countries-in-the-world-get-their-energy-from/

[Woodie]

The green brainwashing propaganda is becoming harder and harder to fight. We should not be using any form of energy as across the whole value chain our carbon footprint is massive. So what?
Miners are free to choose whichever energy they want to use and those power plants are NOT intended for bitcoin mining only.
Go blame China, Australia (73% coal!!!), US etc. and all the other coal-dependent energy users.
https://bettermeetsreality.com/energy-sources-energy-mix-by-country-where-major-countries-in-the-world-get-their-energy-from/

This is a valid argument!

Bitcoin didn't introduce these coal power plants first nor can we play the negligence card, but when it comes to fighting or reducing  our carbon footprints it wound carry more weight if they started their fight with these electricity producers using coal.

By the way according to worldcoal.org  they say in the year 2040 coal will still generate 22% of the world's electricity which simply means we still rely on coal for our cheap electricity. .

[Karartma1]

When the right data are presented, the Bitcoin's gonna kill the environment drama get easily knocked off. I'd add what a great comedian already saw before this whole green mega shit movement. Do you remember George Carlin? Here it is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqaEE9vzV2M

We're living in a fricking videogame.

[Streets 2.0]

I find it funny when I hear these "green" claims about bitcoin. I think that the share of all these "harmful" environmental factors is negligible even in comparison with the carbon dioxide emitted by people themselves, so now is the time to reduce the population of the planet? It sounds somehow not very pleasant to put it mildly. I think this is a kind of base of claims to try to stop the victorious movement of bitcoin around the world and its introduction into the financial infrastructure of mankind. This is a more logical reason for such attacks on cryptocurrency.

[acquafredda]

The green brainwashing propaganda is becoming harder and harder to fight. We should not be using any form of energy as across the whole value chain our carbon footprint is massive. So what?
Miners are free to choose whichever energy they want to use and those power plants are NOT intended for bitcoin mining only.
Go blame China, Australia (73% coal!!!), US etc. and all the other coal-dependent energy users.
https://bettermeetsreality.com/energy-sources-energy-mix-by-country-where-major-countries-in-the-world-get-their-energy-from/

This is a valid argument!

Bitcoin didn't introduce these coal power plants first nor can we play the negligence card, but when it comes to fighting or reducing  our carbon footprints it wound carry more weight if they started their fight with these electricity producers using coal.

By the way according to worldcoal.org  they say in the year 2040 coal will still generate 22% of the world's electricity which simply means we still rely on coal for our cheap electricity. .

What do you expect from them? As I said it is still pure and simple propaganda! Data are out there for those who want to debunk the green fairy tale.
Do not get me wrong: I would want a world where the majority of energy is produced thanks to green and renewable sources but we have a long way to go before the old world will dismiss fossil fuel.
And that is an undeniable fact, sorry.

[Theb]

With this kind of attack on Bitcoin not being green because on how it is mined is something that I don't tend to focus on as I always think about what is the greater pollutants of our world and how they didn't act or change anything about that. Most of the cars are still running by burning fuel, Factories are still contributing to pollution, plastic and other trash are floating around the ocean killing animals all of these things and many more yet they haven't act anything about it instead singling out a industry as if they are the pioneers of pollution and energy waste.

[bbc.reporter]

If we change the energy source for electricity then we can probably shift the energy consumption narrative that has been plaguing bitcoin. The problem that we are currently facing is that it's not that difficult how to go green but the fact that companies that won't benefit from going green is stopping it from happening.

However, a serious change in the energy sources needs billions in costs, a sacrfice of billions in profit and also a shift on who becomes the leader in this industry. This problem has been plaguing the world before bitcoin. Elon Musk has said in one interview that if given the choice to shutdown fossil fuel power stations, he would say no because it would kill industries in the world economy.

If government and big companies wanted this problem to be solved, this certainly would have been solved already.

[aoluain]

Ah the green energy and Bitcoin mining polluters debate, its been going on for ages
and will continue until mining is totally green, thats going to take some time, just like
all other aspects of energy consumption.

Transportation is moving slowly, HGV's are still using Diesel, passenger cars are
moving slowly to electric, there is a limitation to supply in lithium for batteries.
Older housing stock is still using fossil fuels for heating, retro fitting these with
green energy is a slow process.

....same applies to Bitcoin mining, its a slow process.

[hv_]

Only if ppl use Bitcoin for all sorts of electronic interactions of value - Bitcoin is sustainable

[willoweb]

It seems to me how very foolish to blame bitcoin for global warming. After the events in Japan, European countries massively turned off their essentially environmentally friendly nuclear power plants and switched to completely non-environmentally friendly alternatives. Even the noise that we see from the Nord Stream 2 is ecologically stupid. Since gas turbine power plants are one of the cleanest generating plants. It is all the fault of the politicians who instill their ideas because of competition and no one wants to hear the voice of reason. But I think as a result everyone will come to a normal solution to the problem. Bitcoin has nothing to do with it!

[milewilda]

If we change the energy source for electricity then we can probably shift the energy consumption narrative that has been plaguing bitcoin. The problem that we are currently facing is that it's not that difficult how to go green but the fact that companies that won't benefit from going green is stopping it from happening.

However, a serious change in the energy sources needs billions in costs, a sacrfice of billions in profit and also a shift on who becomes the leader in this industry. This problem has been plaguing the world before bitcoin. Elon Musk has said in one interview that if given the choice to shutdown fossil fuel power stations, he would say no because it would kill industries in the world economy.

If government and big companies wanted this problem to be solved, this certainly would have been solved already.

It would surely kill those big companies that had been running off through ages but literally shutting off oil/fossil fuel power stations etc. would really be giving out significant impact and as you say that this kind of problem had already been existing before bitcoin exist but somehow its existence did really add up more in terms of this manner but actually it is just really on miners choice which same said above
but its no brainer that they would really be choosing into something which is less hassle and bit more accessible than into those green energy which we know that you would
need that big budget or doesnt really cost that cheap.

[bbc.reporter]

Only if ppl use Bitcoin for all sorts of electronic interactions of value - Bitcoin is sustainable

I am supportive of the people who want bitcoin as a form of digital cash, however, it cannot be because of its monetary policy. Everyone should accept that it is a great success as a form of speculative investment and asset for value growth during bull markets.

[davis196]

One thing everyone agrees on is that it has become a staggering consumer of energy and producer of climate wrecking carbon dioxide. Debate between its champions and detractors grows with its price and value, intensified by accelerating global efforts to tackle climate change.

CLIMATE WRECKING CARBON DIOXIDE?!?
Plants need carbon dioxide in order to survive.The article author should go back to school and learn biology.
This is some stupid "save the planet"/Greta Thunberg type of preaching.As if many other industries aren't using energy produced by burning coal and polluting the environment.Bitcoin mining should be blamed for all the pollution I guess.
This article is just explaining common sense-it's not easy to be green,since green energy is more expensive.
It's no "dirty little secret" that miners are using "dirty" electricity,but this is temporary and it will change in the future.

 

[hv_]

Only if ppl use Bitcoin for all sorts of electronic interactions of value - Bitcoin is sustainable

I am supportive of the people who want bitcoin as a form of digital cash, however, it cannot be because of its monetary policy. Everyone should accept that it is a great success as a form of speculative investment and asset for value growth during bull markets.

There was one small line of code Satoshi was told to inject - and had beed set to get phased out later: max_block_size - a capacity (limiting) parameter

That's just not needed at all, but still cripples btc - not bsv

It just makes Bitcoin fully efficient - and nobody would argue about energy any more

[Slow death]

It is useless to argue about this when we know that the culprit is not bitcoin. before bitcoin existed, there was already pollution, these coal plants already existed. we can't be blaming bitcoin when it didn't even create a coal plant, the people who created the coal plants are the people and they created it long before bitcoin dreamed it would exist. My advice: let's fight for green energy without unfairly labeling bitcoin as the culprit of something that has never been. it reminds me that people build supermarkets, basketball courts, very tall buildings and then build nuclear power plants to have electricity.

[Argoo]

The green brainwashing propaganda is becoming harder and harder to fight. We should not be using any form of energy as across the whole value chain our carbon footprint is massive. So what?
Miners are free to choose whichever energy they want to use and those power plants are NOT intended for bitcoin mining only.
Go blame China, Australia (73% coal!!!), US etc. and all the other coal-dependent energy users.
https://bettermeetsreality.com/energy-sources-energy-mix-by-country-where-major-countries-in-the-world-get-their-energy-from/

It's right. If power plants on coal, fuel oil, and so on continue to operate, then the consumers of such energy will in any case, and one should not blame the consumers, but the organizers of such uneconomical energy production, which brings great benefits to the environment. And the organizers are the states and their governments, which raise a false problem with the extraction of cryptocurrency.
Now many states are planning to gradually abandon coal, gas and oil as direct sources of energy and to introduce renewable energy sources as quickly as possible, and above all solar and wind. Therefore, I see no reason for this panic.

[tabas]

A never ending attack about energy consumption through mining. But how about those factories and manufacturers that are not even disciplined to put their waste product floating on the rivers and just throwing it on a dump site.
There's also renewable energy which I think is being used by most of the mining farms.

[Oceat]

The problem here is that everyone can choose the green method but won't use it because it won't give benefit to them. They rather choose the dirty cheap method that would somehow going to affect the climate change. To cut it short, people like these doesn't really care about the environment neither the climate effect of what they were doing. It's like if the other countries can use why can't we can and the process of destroying earth is still going on. They only care about what could benefit to them despite the fact that they were slowly destroying the environment. Bitcoin has nothing to do with this crap since we all have a choice what power source we should use.