Crypto-assets can have significant environmental impacts

[Twentyonepaylots]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

What are your thoughts?

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[eaLiTy]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

This nonsense is being discussed for sometime now, lets cut to the topic, BTCitcoin mining is consuming a lot of electricity and it is harmful to the environment while majority of the government are planning to ban Combustion engines in favor of electric cars and where do you think those electricity will be generated.

The view that migrating everyone to electric cars would be a great idea but mining BTCitcoin would cause a lot of damage to the environment, what a bunch of jokers trying to find a cause and then rally against it. FYI many miners are using renewable energy and if these sort of discussions are created thinking BTCitcoin will change from POW to POS, then it is not going to happen.

[jackg]

Crypto produces lots of greenhouse gas emissions because electricity production does. Until Airlines stop being subsidised by the governments and start being powered by electricity I don't think this is going to change - one of the biggest polluters, especially per person.

Most of the other electricity being produced could go to being 100% renewable within a year, there's just been little incentive on governments to do it (there's also been less of an acceptance of making global power grid structures like the Internet has which would also greatly reduce and standardise everyone's electricity costs - even if companies have the option to withdraw).

Governments banning crypto mining might be a misdirected influence attempt from certain countries to monopolise on the mining industry further than has already been done too - as crypto mining with non renewables was already fairly infeasible in a lot of Europe especially from sources that aren't nuclear or renewable.

[Mr.right85]

At times people tend to fight a thing not because it's actually bad but, because it's actually against all they stand for and hope to gain. The need to put cryptos in the frontiers of environmental degradations is something I would never understand. Of course crypto minings consumes energy but its not as bad as it seems.

What happens to the actual production of these energies with regards to the fractional distillation process. There are a lot of emissions at these points too and have depleted the ozone layer far more before the cryptocurrency innovation and still, no drastical step have been taken to its mitigation.

I think most if these anti cryptos be careful of the sort of messages they put out because it would result in an unbelief in the system even when it works someday. They shouldn't promote certain messages out of grudge.

[348Judah]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

What are your thoughts?

I will like to assume you're referring to bitcoin PoW when mentioning crypto and i can tell you plainly that bitcoin mining had contributed no harm to the environment in considering what other minings have placed as a big plague to the environment, have you considered the exhaust from the automobile, refinery combustion, gold mining amf other natural resources how they were been mined? then you will know that bitcoin mining is the safest and instead of contributing to the hazards, it's in other ways turning the environment into a friendly habitat for lives.

[coolcoinz]

Crypto produces lots of greenhouse gas emissions because electricity production does. Until Airlines stop being subsidised by the governments and start being powered by electricity I don't think this is going to change - one of the biggest polluters, especially per person.

Reminds me of how members of the World Economic Forum flew their in their private jets to discuss how to cut greenhouse emissions.

Most of the other electricity being produced could go to being 100% renewable within a year, there's just been little incentive on governments to do it (there's also been less of an acceptance of making global power grid structures like the Internet has which would also greatly reduce and standardise everyone's electricity costs - even if companies have the option to withdraw).

The whole world to go green in a year? They'd have to spend their whole defense budget on that and still wouldn't make the deadline. Some countries would be able to do it in a year, others that rely on coal would not. You can't for instance go 100% solar because panels don't produce any power at night. Wind power sucks because it requires a lot of copper to make the generator and copper is expensive.

Governments banning crypto mining might be a misdirected influence attempt from certain countries to monopolise on the mining industry further than has already been done too - as crypto mining with non renewables was already fairly infeasible in a lot of Europe especially from sources that aren't nuclear or renewable.

I'm sure there's a lobby of banks feeding this narrative that crypto isn't green and therefore politicians shouldn't associate themselves with it.

[zeuner]

Bitcoin-flavour PoW energy consumption doesn't care whether it's being done with today's power, one tenth of today's power or even 0,0001% of today's power, since the difficulty can adapt. So it could be rather considered as a symptom of today's energy prices and the available alternatives of turning electricity into profit.

The funny thing is that those who complain about crypto-asset energy consumption often run around with devices full of tracker- and ad-ware burning down electricity for no use and still regard themselves as morally superior.

[The Cryptovator]

This is nonsense allegation against Bitcoin mining. How many % of total energy consuming by Bitcoin mining? Do you think war isn't impacting on environment? Can we stop them even we think about it? So why some people blame Bitcoin mining. Nothing gonna happen to the environment from Bitcoin mining. How many worst cars driving everyday that polluting environment? Who can stop them? Just all the blame to Bitcoin mining.

[Rruchi man]

What are your thoughts?

Before the start of bitcoin mining there has always been the issue regarding environmental concerns. Even if mining activities are somehow halted, it will not automatically address and solve the environmental issues that they claim bitcoin is causing. I always say that the people who hide behind this reason solely to criticize bitcoins are hypocrites, and should seek clarity. Just as safer alternatives are being sought to address the environmental challenges that other factors contribute to the environment, the conversation should be more about how to safely mine bitcoin without damage to the environment, the solution and not the problem.

[AmoreJaz]

This is nonsense allegation against Bitcoin mining. How many % of total energy consuming by Bitcoin mining? Do you think war isn't impacting on environment? Can we stop them even we think about it? So why some people blame Bitcoin mining. Nothing gonna happen to the environment from Bitcoin mining. How many worst cars driving everyday that polluting environment? Who can stop them? Just all the blame to Bitcoin mining.

most people who are alleging the impact of bitcoin mining towards the environment are neglecting other sources of pollutants or those industries wasting a lot of energy. bitcoin mining is just one contributor. this is why most bitcoin miners are looking for renewable sources of energy to combat this dilemma.
people need to be realistic and look at the bigger picture. why not call for other industries that are indeed damaging our environment or those top polluters in the world and ask how they can reduce such carbon footprint?

[lionheart78]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

What are your thoughts?

A complete non-sense.  There are lots of discussion refuting this claim about cryptocurrency mining activity energy consumption.  Besides it is already established that Bitcoin mining uses way less energy than any major industry.  This artilce[1] simply shows how false the claim of many anti-Bitcoin party about the energy consumption of bitcoin.

Just look at this comparison:

In general terms, utilities are accepted as they add value to society. Their energy consumption becomes less a question of morality than one of basic human necessity. For example, household tumble dryers in the U.S. consume 108 TWh of energy a year, while Bitcoin uses 62 TWh a year. The graph below illustrates similar comparisons with other socially-accepted utilities, such as data centers which give us access to Netflix and popular gaming platforms such as Playstation, for example.

[1] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/03/crypto-energy-consumption/

[tranthidung]

Bitcoin mining industry consumes less total energy than other industries and it has more renewable energy (59.4%, 3% increase from Q3 2021) than other industries too. So if you combine them and conclude it has significant environmental impacts, that is incorrect especially if you compare it with other industries.

It is still inaccurate if you over generalize it to crypto mining industry because Bitcoin is a biggest Proof of Work blockchain network.

The improvement of technology helps the Bitcoin mining industry has more technological efficiency from 17.7 EH per Gigawatt to 21.7 EH per Gigawatt (2021 Q3 to 2022 Q3).

Bitcoin Mining Council report Q3 2022

[Daltonik]

The impact of mining on the surrounding nature is greatly exaggerated and is usually used for manipulation, and indeed mining uses electricity that has already been produced, no one creates new power plants exclusively for mining. and if the entire world industry produced 1.7 trillion tons of CO2 from 1720 to 2020, proceeding from the fact that 3.66 tons of CO2 is formed during combustion for 1 ton of carbon, however, only during the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, as much CO2 was emitted as the entire modern industry does not emit in 10! years.

[Pokapoka124]

Do people who come with this theory really care about the environment or is it just bad PR to destroy Bitcoin reputation, it’s funny how bitcoin mining became the hot topic as one of the major cause of pollution. Well in my opinion fillippone did justice to this topic last year, anyone who still thinks Bitcoin mining is going cause the sun to fall should read    
Debunking the "Bitcoin is an environmental disaster" argument.

[KaliLinux]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

What are your thoughts?

Obviously, this trash talk of Bitcoins energy consumption and how it is a danger to the environment isn't going away anytime soon but the good thing is, there have been many facts to prove that this is just a baseless lie from Bitcoin hatters. It is even becoming annoying reading about it.

Bitcoin v. other industries


  
It is no longer an argument that "Bitcoin miners utilize a substantial amount of hydroelectric, geothermal, and solar power".
I think this should be put to rest already.

[adaseb]

I feel like every 6 months there is some thread about this.

Yes it requires energy, so do banks and their transactions. It also takes energy to store other stores of value like Gold. The fact that it requires electricity is what makes Bitcoin so secure because it will make it very expensive to attack.

Don’t know why people keep talking about this every few months.

[m.fuza]

Now more and more mining firms are starting to use natural energy, such as geothermal or solar energy, and more should be using the same ways later.  Or it may become a mandortory requirement many years later.

[swogerino]

Of course it requires energy but the energy that it requires to mine Bitcoin in the world is really little,less than 1% and maybe now even less than that because many people have shut down their rigs because of them becoming unprofitable at the moment.

This news circulates in the media by people who do not love crypto and by doing so they want to scare away new people from coming into crypto but as many people say "You cannot stop an idea whose time has just come" so their tries will continue to go in vain like they have gone up until now.

[Crypt0Gore]

Banks around the world uses more energy than the entire Bitcoin mining farms worldwide, those who are trying to make BTC looks like a destroyer of mother earth are just haters, BTC mining hurts nothing in this world and now we have green energy too and this is what I am using now that mining is not that profitable like before. Let's stop this hate.

[FP91G]

The mining of crypto-assets can consume a lot of electricity, which can result in greenhouse gas emissions, besides purchased grid electricity, crypto-asset mining operations can also cause local noise, electronic waste, air and other pollution from any direct usage of fossil-fired electricity, and additional air, water, and waste impacts associated with all grid electricity usage that can affect on nearby communities.

What are your thoughts?

I think that the most important thing in the mining business is profit. If the mining will give a good profit, then the miners will look for places with cheap electricity and opportunities to get around the restrictions of the legislation of various countries.
For example, in Russia, some organizations enter into agreements with power plants to destroy excess electricity at night, and instead they mine on old ASICs, such as S9.