Congress Hearing On Bitcoin’s Energy Use

[KingsDen]

I have followed this up. This people are not actually to take bitcoin down, and I think that is not there intention. US as a nation has a unique and unbiased ideology. Which is Liberty.
So, bitcoin is about liberty, US government cannot go against their ideology.
Besides, bitcoin has created and is still creating numerous opportunities for the people.
People are at liberty to chose the finance or investment they want to get into.

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[24Kt]

having watched the 2 hour video. many things were stated wrong, many seemed positive.
i didnt feel that it was a war against crypto. but more of an intro to further discussions.

i found things funny that they worry about 'grid operators' able to meet the demand of crypto..
yet the ~38TWH worldwide(better guess) is nothing in comparison to other industries.

EG if people travel on average 20miles a day for work/leisure. an electric car scenario of all 290million cars being EV in a decade, would need over 1000TWH a year just for the US
 
if governments think 38twh WORLDWIDE (14TWH US) is a problem now.. yes US only 14twh.. . then they have a real problem in the electric car plan for 2030 which would need over 1000twh

14 vs 1000. i think they need to concentrate more on regulating and making the EV industry more efficient

This is why I don't think this kind of hearing or discussion will progress into something serious. Because there are more pressing matters to address. Like you mentioned, if they looked at EV industry requirements in the years to come, then, they better address it now because 2030 is not very far. So for me, the discussion regarding energy use of bitcoin may not really be serious in tackling it right now. They will find out as they go deeper that this won't need urgent attention from them because there are more important things to address.

[franky1]

This is why I don't think this kind of hearing or discussion will progress into something serious. Because there are more pressing matters to address. Like you mentioned, if they looked at EV industry requirements in the years to come, then, they better address it now because 2030 is not very far. So for me, the discussion regarding energy use of bitcoin may not really be serious in tackling it right now. They will find out as they go deeper that this won't need urgent attention from them because there are more important things to address.

yea governments and utility companies should not be in the business of telling people:
to 'turn down their heating and insteadsnuggle a pet to stay warm'.
to unplug their TV's at the wall socket instead of putting them on standby

and instead should make power plants/utility companies incentivized to upgrade to keep up with capacity.

one issue with utility companies is the cost of electric. back in the days of only 1-2 utility companies serving an entire nation meant that the 'bidding' of allotments of twh's was highly strengthened by just 2 companies buying thw from the grid and these bulk contracts meant better deals. but now with dozens of utility companies. its diluted their buying strength, and also sucks more of the bills 'profits' into the utility company admin offices. rather then going more direct to power plants.

governments should try getting the money to power plants so they can upgrade to renewables faster. rather then letting utility companies keep the profits and tell customers to switch devices off

[perfect999]

"Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency" shows that cryptocurrency has being judged before the judgement. Anyways, let us keep the hope alive.

Yeah, I always get curious and even sometimes furious when all these narratives about bitcoin energy consumption. I sometimes feel all these are just a bid to destroy the reputation of bitcoin and have reason to keep it from soaring high, because we cannot compare the energy consumption of bitcoin and that of industrial energy consumption.

I have faith on initiatives taken by bitcoin miners and devs to stay greener as much as possible. Over the years, I believe bitcoin might be more green than fiats as most countries are not having any proposal to strop using paper money but bitcoin already started working on making use of renewable energies.

[aysg76]

Despite all the dangerous industries that have been producing incredible pollution and destroying the environment for more than 70 years, all these fake experts and hypocrites choose Bitcoin as the main reason for their fight against greenhouse gases. I find it hard to believe that all these hypocrites are so stupid that they can’t understand the most basic math, so I would conclude that they are mercenaries of the banking system and servants of various anti-Bitcoin coalitions operating worldwide.

Right they will only blame bitcoin with all these bullshit excuses and not expose what affect other things have on the environment that are far more worse than bitcoin mining.The congress and all other government houses will try to figure out some new way to defame the image of bitcoin and mining is one of the biggest thing they have in their minds not in hands as just claiming this or that will not help them in making people fools.

Here is one example of the same and their so called federal reserve is not of much environment friendly mining which is clear from the pictures :

So now who's environment friendly? Take a note about how many workers and labour have died during gold,coal and other metal minings and what affects they have on environmental status of that particular area and compare it with btc mining then answer would automatically be clear.

Okay so this is interesting topic for me to debate over and give more possible explanations in favour of Bitcoin and going to collect more facts and figures about the same and post in this thread.Congress lies won't live any longer neither their fake and useless talks.

[slaman29]

You know I always wondered why US and Asia are so against nuclear energy and I know the bomb and plant meltdown are problems but the first to me is not even related and the second can always be improved.

I read that in Europe even nuclear energy will be classified as green. Instead of expensive and politically crippling energy, if everyone began using the same nuclear technology in some countries of Europe, wouldn't all this arguments lose their value (they have value now because they are being said by people in power backed by fossil fuel and other mining industry).

[kryptqnick]

Blaming mining for climate change is not right. The problem is with the sources of electricity, not with it being in high consumption. The US is a very wasteful country. They waste tons of food, people live in huge houses, they are not even a part of major ecological global agreements. It's a fact that based on the US ecological footprint per person, we'd need 5 Earths if everyone lived the same way as people there do. It's worse than any other country in the world, to the best of my knowledge.
And now they care about crypto mining? It's great that the fact-checking alternative was written, and I hope it will be taken into account. I also hope the US will actually start caring about the ecology, but Bitcoin is not the right place to start.

[franky1]

[Dunamisx]

Kazakhstan energy challenges:

Another bitcoin mining facility shutdown in Kazakhstan due to insufficient power supply from the country's electricity recent shortage encountered, the report stated that the entire country had an experience of blackout due to high demands of energy (power) used in mining activities. While stating that the disconnection is slated to last till 31st of January 2022.

Officials in Russia, which had to increase electricity exports for Kazakhstan, have cited similar reasons for the current situation, including insufficient investments in modernizing and upgrading the country’s power infrastructure and generation capacity.
https://news.bitcoin.com/kazakhstan-shuts-down-crypto-mining-farms-till-february/?utm_source=thecryptoapp

Base on the report we had, the bitcoin mining company complains been incapacitated to source for finance due to the cost of it mining activities it incurred.

[uchegod-21]

"Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency" shows that cryptocurrency has being judged before the judgement. Anyways, let us keep the hope alive.

Yeah, I always get curious and even sometimes furious when all these narratives about bitcoin energy consumption. I sometimes feel all these are just a bid to destroy the reputation of bitcoin and have reason to keep it from soaring high, because we cannot compare the energy consumption of bitcoin and that of industrial energy consumption.

We are not denying the fact that bitcoin consumes energy. But my problem is why bitcoin energy consumption is always treated in isolation. While others are treated together and seen as normal, bitcoin is always singled out and treated as a menace.
It is because they want to drag the the reputation of bitcoin to zero and then they will kill bitcoin. But can they?
They cannot kill bitcoin. I know one day the last bitcoin will be mined and I will wait to hear their excuses again against bitcoin.

[AakZaki]

the use of minin bitcoin energy is always at issue. This has become news that is heard quite often and is always a problem that continues to be discussed, because bitcoin is always associated with global warming that will threaten this earth. Mining more extreme than bitcoin is certainly still a lot and not only creates problems with excessive energy use, but also very serious environmental problems.
Bitcoin is currently also using renewable energy or using energy from nature so that the energy burden will not be too heavy and environmentally friendly.

[fillippone]

the use of minin bitcoin energy is always at issue..

The use (you are right, “the use”, not the “waste” of energy for bit pin mining is a false problem.
The total energy used for bitcoin mining is about 0,05% of the total energy production.
It’s not bitcoin roel to make energy production clean, but bitcoin mining can have a positive role on this.
See these two treads:

Debunking the ""Bitcoin is an environmental disaster"" argument
ALPS BLOCKCHAIN: mining in Italy from 100% renewable energy

[Dunamisx]

 I read an article recently talking about the United States Office of Science and Technology saddled with the responsibility to request for public opinions from the people on the possible impacts of the crypto mining energy and the effect on the environment after considering possible reason behind the proposed EU ban on bitcoin mining as a result of the challenging PoW and the effect of waste and unutilized energy posing environmental climate change.

I understand and know that bitcoin mining does not constitute to the global environmental hazard as energy loss as a result of mining is not upto ⅛ of the global energy loss due to inefficiency and this become one of the reasons bitcoin places no environmental degredation, as the government now divert attention in considering the rate of energy loss during petroleum refining, heavy duty equipment and facilities, production companies,  automobile exhaust, fire/material burnings, and the likes.

I discover a recent move by the United State most recognized oil and gas company Exxon Mobil which is set to make an effective utilization of the energy loss in refining petroleum for bitcoin mining as it tends to extend this development within the regions it has some of it plant stations such as: Argentina, Germany, Nigeria and Guyana. It can be concluded that bitcoin has not come to constitute to the environmental hazard but rather bringing a solution to it.

[fillippone]

Bitcoin Mining Council wrote a letter to the EPA trying to shed some light on the supposed bitcoin needy consumption:

[franky1]

Bitcoin Mining Council wrote a letter to the EPA trying to shed some light on the supposed bitcoin needy consumption:

they try to sound helpful until they put their foot into their mouth, by saying the opposite of what they pretend to intend to say..

they claim mining farms have nothing to do with the power generation. but then say things like this

One example is Marathon Digital Holdings, one of the largest public miners in the U.S., which has declared their intention to shutter their coal-based Hardin facility in Montana and move to a fully sustainable model by year end of 2022.

so they spent many paragraphs saying that mining farms have nothing to do with power generation methods.. then slightly flip by saying 2 examples "Ameren and Greenidge" do have links to it, but only represent 2% of world bitcoin mining (meaning more then 2% of american mining)
and then flip again to say that marathon.. america's biggest mining farm. does have coal facilities. is currently using them, but intents to stop using them in the future.
..
its like saying "im sorry police officer but i dont think my son is a thief you have no evidence he is a thief, and i have never personally seen him steal anything.... oh wait there was that one time i seen him steal the family car, and that other time he told me how he used the car to do a bank robbery, but that doesnt count right.. oops i just gave you some evidence, anyway, tell my son we love him and we will visit him once a month for the first 5 years of his incarceration"

..........
its just as bad as when the bitcoin mining consortium also exaggerated the numbers to say that bitcoin mining was using 150-250TW when actual numbers were more like 50TW.

what are they playing at.. do they even read their letters/memos/presentations before publishing to see how their sentiments come across..
they want to sound like they are helping while actually giving the ammo to the opposition to fire off on everyone

[Kakmakr]

Congress will listen more to the people filling their pockets with tax money and/or bribes ....or even opportunities to profit from tenders. The uninformed "Tree huggers" do not have a clue what they talking about, because they are moved by the agenda that are pushed by mainstream (paid) media.

The calculations that supports "energy" myths regarding Bitcoin mining, have been debunked many times before... but nobody are listening. It is easier to be spoon fed by the mass media, than doing the math on their own..... or to compare Apples with Apples. (Ask these people to calculate how much greenhouse gasses and pollution are caused by the mining and manufacturing of Fiat currencies... eg. nickel, copper, and zinc and plastic & paper &  cotton notes) 

[JayJuanGee]

Congress will listen more to the people filling their pockets with tax money and/or bribes ....or even opportunities to profit from tenders. The uninformed "Tree huggers" do not have a clue what they talking about, because they are moved by the agenda that are pushed by mainstream (paid) media.

The calculations that supports "energy" myths regarding Bitcoin mining, have been debunked many times before... but nobody are listening. It is easier to be spoon fed by the mass media, than doing the math on their own..... or to compare Apples with Apples. (Ask these people to calculate how much greenhouse gasses and pollution are caused by the mining and manufacturing of Fiat currencies... eg. nickel, copper, and zinc and plastic & paper &  cotton notes) 

I don't necessarily agree with you that "tree huggers" have money, but for sure, there is a certain amount of the information space that fails/refuses to account for actual facts - or even to account for a lot of the practicalities that come through bitcoin's possible role in various aspects of energy balancing - whether involving some of the incentivizing of more energy production from less expensive sources or even having some discussions that involve how bitcoin mining may well start to serve larger and larger roles in the innovation of vertical integrated operations in jurisdictions that do not strive to stifle that and can figure out ways to possibly benefit from having bitcoin operations in various places around the world, if they could get over the idea that magical internet money (namely bitcoin - and not referring to the various shitcoin smoke and mirror scams) does actually also serve various public purposes that end up serving as a good use of energy as compared to some other ways that energy might be used to prop up some of the fiat money system behaviors that are likely way less efficient and way less in the public interests than they are made out to be whether we are considering the Cantillon effect or just considering the various ways that the printing of money makes a fool out of the people and their supposed consent to such ways that inflation ends up robbing them in more subtle ways that the solid aspects of magical bitcoin money provides standards and surely does not cost very much (in terms of overall energy usage) as the exaggerated and largely ill-informed (misleading too) claims like to throw out into the public discourse on the topic.

**presentation note... I am thinking that maybe I should have put a period somewhere in my above paragraph/sentence?  perhaps?  perhaps?

[aysg76]

This energy issue has always prevailing in the debates and now the Congress just want another propoganda to defame the image of bitcoin by showing that through mining energy many other works could be done like officials have also stated that through single bitcoin transaction many US household could consume electricity and many more to come.

But have they not given any importance to that how miners are moving to energy efficient and renewable methods? The hash rates have increased and energy consumption has decreased with 25% and more than 60% is now green energy consumption for mining purpose.



So they will ignore these charts and keep on debating on the same topic but how many banks are other monetary services contribute to the total energy usage in US only? Much more than btc so if you are having some POW based coin that have the capability to change the financial system but with some electricity which miners are trying to solve also disturb them and they suddenly become so environment friendly? This is same old bullshit which they are not bored of .

As per the latest reports of Mining council they are briefing about the usage but you see only a few percentage cares to listen to them :



Will see forward to the hearing and what next they come up with but the council is also ready for defending itself and raise up the bitcoin to ordinary people in true representative.

[Wiwo]

I take the report on Bitcoin mining energy consumption as a political tool to undermine the cryptocurrency industry and also to make way for centralized financial control of the bank and other traditional financial institutions who see and passive the cryptocurrency industry as a threat to their existence monopolistic control. The greenhouse institutions are also established by the government as an agency which makes it clear that their judgment is at the mercy of the government and how their passive bitcoin, Bitcoin prove of work POW is a highly decentralized system that does not allow for third-party involvement so the most centralized autocratic government have negative appetite towards decentralization since it gives total freedom.  What the government lack is infrastructure if the UK or US have updated infrastructure that converts various carbon dioxide and guaranty eco free global space the activities of Bitcoin miners will become a way to generate revenue I believe the United state will look in that direction if I were part of EU Parliament I will have voted against a total ban of Prove of work cryptocurrency mining. Let's look at it that the whole fight was based on stereotyped and sentimental judgment.

[Dunamisx]

So for me, the discussion regarding energy use of bitcoin may not really be serious in tackling it right now. They will find out as they go deeper that this won't need urgent attention from them because there are more important things to address

We should in other words advise the governments to first take care of the already environmental catastrophe in place as a result of natural resources  mining and other environmental pollutions needed to be given serious attention of which affect lives than bitcoin energy usage which has no implication on health and lives of human being.

 I sometimes feel all these are just a bid to destroy the reputation of bitcoin and have reason to keep it from soaring high

Its part of their motives but they never knew that bitcoin has gone beyond the era of getting influenced by news especially of this manners, they have tried in many ways to counter the role and adoption of bitcoin but the resistive force is far beyond their imagination because because is not just accepted by the governments for adoption but the people have gone far beyond their expectations adopting bitcoin.

Well i never expected such from government because bitcoin is decentralized and this alone is a plus bonus for individuals adoption, not to talk of how they have been launching CBDC against bitcoin which has no any inference or change to what is on ground, the fact remains fiat currency is fiat and bitcoin remains decentralized digital currency and nothing can be changed about the two as it remains constant k.