Can Bitcoin mining become more sustainable?

[VivaMan]

Absolutely Yes.
Bitcoin mining can be more sustainable,  meanwhile there are trade off about how much improvement or how possible it is.


Therefore are the main ways it could become more sustainable let's analyze below:


1. Using enough renewable energy:  Mining
 operations is very essential and can be strengthen by hydro electric source , wind, or solar power.  Which is preferable instead of fossil fuels always.In methods with abundant renewable energy, this can significantly reduce carbon emissions in it.


2. Applying excesses energy support:
 Some miners use electricity that would be channel  to waste, examples surplus hydropower,  meanwhile during rainy period that would help to be flared at oil fields.


3. Developing mining hardware:                         
There's is what we called (Newer mining machine) this machine is very important and essencial,  because it works tirelessly in calculating,  while using smaller electricity onlike the models power supply.
.


4.Getting back wasted  heat:
It's certain that the heat produced by mining products can be used to keep a place warmly for a while.  example poultry house, making good use of the energy used.
 
Note there are some challenges despite these great chances below
Mining stands highly energy intensive.

The sorounding gives depends heavily on the electricity mixture.

The fast replenishment of mining instrument can highly contribute to electronic waste .

Not all movement in operations uses renewable energy.




Conclusion

Bitcoin mining get more sustainable through cleaner and vital energy sources.

Note that more efficient technology however, it environment impact will continue to depend on how widely these practices are been adopt and how it electricity is gotten.

[hd49728]

Bitcoin mining can be more sustainable,  meanwhile there are trade off about how much improvement or how possible it is.

Therefore are the main ways it could become more sustainable let's analyze below:

1. Using enough renewable energy
2. Applying excesses energy support:
3. Developing mining hardware:                         
4.Getting back wasted  heat:

Bitcoin mining industry is green or sustainable enough in energy consumption. People only want to say Bitcoin is harmful for the Earth, environment, ... are attacking Bitcoin with fuds.

Many fuds about that but it is possible to debunk such fuds too.
https://endthefud.org/energy
https://bitcoincleanup.com/
https://casebitcoin.com/critiques/bitcoin-wastes-energy

Bitcoin mining equipments have been improved a lot with time and mining generations.
Electricity consumption of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin electricity consumption: an improved assessment.

[Fiatless]

1. Using enough renewable energy:  Mining
 operations is very essential and can be strengthen by hydro electric source , wind, or solar power.  Which is preferable instead of fossil fuels always.In methods with abundant renewable energy, this can significantly reduce carbon emissions in it.

Transitioning to renewable energy is not cheap. It requires a high initial investment. Although power costs might reduce, some mining firms will not be able to afford this transition cost.

4.Getting back wasted  heat:
It's certain that the heat produced by mining products can be used to keep a place warmly for a while.  example poultry house, making good use of the energy used.

There is a recent thread about how Bitcoin mining heat was used to produce beers 🍻🍻🍻. Some Bitcoin miners have used the generated heat for greenhouse farming, heating houses, water heating, and so much more.

[dkbit98]

It's more realistic to think that bitcoin mining is going to be less profitable ans less sustainable in future.
We have halving every few years (next one is in two years), and electricity prices are going up all the time.
Sure there are some cool projects for using excesses energy, but only small percentage of miners will do that.

[macson]

Bitcoin mining is already greener than expected. Miners have taken numerous steps to eliminate the need for grid electricity, which is becoming more expensive and reducing their potential profits. Furthermore, mining equipment is now more efficient and consumes significantly less energy. All of this is making the Bitcoin mining industry greener over time --- and directly debunking anyone who continues to argue that Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly harmful to the environment.

[Cryptomultiplier]

Bitcoin mining is already greener than expected. Miners have taken numerous steps to eliminate the need for grid electricity, which is becoming more expensive and reducing their potential profits. Furthermore, mining equipment is now more efficient and consumes significantly less energy. All of this is making the Bitcoin mining industry greener over time --- and directly debunking anyone who continues to argue that Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly harmful to the environment.

Bitcoin mining doesn't consume as much energy as AI does if you do your research properly and the only reason why so many people think Bitcoin mining does so much harm is because they detest and stand to oppose the idea of Bitcoin as an alternative currency to fiat currency.

The only thing I see here is that Bitcoin mining needs to be separated from main grid energy providers in order to be efficient enough and that's why any other forms of producing energy like hydro dams or green energy in a remote location where the energy can also be recycled to power other things is the best and most effective, efficient and productive way to mine Bitcoin without much cost except for the data you buy.

[d5000]

Bitcoin mining industry is green or sustainable enough in energy consumption.

I respectfully disagree. Still about 40% of mining relies on fossil fuels, and that's not even taking into account "flare mining".[1]  That can and should be better. Mining could be easily using 80-90% of renewables/nuclear, and solar energy since more than 5 years is the cheapest electricity source that exists.

Transitioning to renewable energy is not cheap. It requires a high initial investment.

This is only the case if the miners want to use their own electricity generation infrastructure. Of course that's the ideal to follow, and it's much less expensive than 10 years ago.

It's more realistic to think that bitcoin mining is going to be less profitable ans less sustainable in future.
We have halving every few years (next one is in two years), and electricity prices are going up all the time.

If electricity prices go up, then it becomes even more attractive to use your own solar/wind generation infrastructure, or flexible tariffs where you're following the wholesale electricity price. Some of the still existing small miners I've read about in this forum already operate that way, mostly with old mining equipment still because it would be uneconomically to run 24/7 (e.g. with batteries, even if this is also slowly becoming competitive), but they can then use free electricity provided at midday and during windy times.


[1] Flare mining (mining with excess natural gas in oil extraction installations that would normally be burnt and cannot be transported economically) is okay-ish, as it uses a free source that would often otherwise not be used, but now other use cases have developed, like AI or other computing tasks. So it's a bit dishonest to put it into the "renewable" category.

[Livingleged]

Absolutely Yes.
Bitcoin mining can be more sustainable,  meanwhile there are trade off about how much improvement or how possible it is.


Therefore are the main ways it could become more sustainable let's analyze below:


1. Using enough renewable energy:  Mining
 operations is very essential and can be strengthen by hydro electric source , wind, or solar power.  Which is preferable instead of fossil fuels always.In methods with abundant renewable energy, this can significantly reduce carbon emissions in it.

Green energy is the future and most people are adopting the use of solar already, the only challenge is the initial cost of installation. But it will be more economical than the fossil fuel no doubt about that and it will definitely encourage mining, I also thought about countries that are using nuclear power plant, I was told a plant can run for 50 to 100year without being interrupted. I don’t have much idea on that form of energy though but I was thinking it will be efficient too for miners as electricity is the major issues for minner.

4.Getting back wasted  heat:
It's certain that the heat produced by mining products can be used to keep a place warmly for a while.  example poultry house, making good use of the energy used.

I’m also thinking about bio fuel as another substitute for the fossil fuel, although the process involved are a bit stressful, but I think it doesn’t cost more as the fossil fuel and could also encourage mining as waste from polymers and agricultural products are used in production.
 

[Grace333]

1. Using enough renewable energy:  Mining
 operations is very essential and can be strengthen by hydro electric source , wind, or solar power.  Which is preferable instead of fossil fuels always.In methods with abundant renewable energy, this can significantly reduce carbon emissions in it.

Transitioning to renewable energy is not cheap. It requires a high initial investment. Although power costs might reduce, some mining firms will not be able to afford this transition cost.

Transition to renewable energy may not be cheap but when you zoom out a bit it is in the long run it is. The use of combustible material to generate electricity for mining will undoubtedly be way more expensive than renewable energy in a long term expecially since most renewable energy equipment requires less maintenance than a combustion engine. Whether we accept the reality of this transition or not it will still happen anyway because the world in itself is working towards clearner and cheaper energy sources.

[Crypto Library]

It's more realistic to think that bitcoin mining is going to be less profitable ans less sustainable in future.
We have halving every few years (next one is in two years), and electricity prices are going up all the time.
Sure there are some cool projects for using excesses energy, but only small percentage of miners will do that.

I also always have doubts about whether Bitcoin mining will actually be profitable in the future.

Because we are going through one halving after another of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining is becoming more and more complicated, like earlier we could mine with laptop processor, then GPU mining and then ASIC mining, and even then, mining with old models cannot generate more TH/s.
And the most complicated thing here is that the price of electricity unit is increasing. If I talk about my country, here it is around 0.10$ or above per kilowatt-hour. And thinking about mining with this electricity cost is like a dream. I have thought about investing in mining many times, but I had to back down for this reason alone.

There are many new ideas currently available about using green energy or renewable energy, but none of us know how many years it will take for it to take off on a large scale.

To make Bitcoin mining profitable, electricity costs need to be reduced, and whether that will decrease in the future is a million-dollar question. Even if we use green energy here, installing, repairing, or replacing them is an expensive process.

[Antidote47k]

~snip

Let’s not forget that mining can actually help stabilize electrical grids, contrary to many other industries, miners can shut down within minutes when electricity demand is high and still resume when there is excess generation which basically allows them to consume surplus electricity that would otherwise be wasted sometimes help support grid stability

[Hypnotizer]

I also always have doubts about whether Bitcoin mining will actually be profitable in the future.

Because we are going through one halving after another of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining is becoming more and more complicated, like earlier we could mine with laptop processor, then GPU mining and then ASIC mining, and even then, mining with old models cannot generate more TH/s.
And the most complicated thing here is that the price of electricity unit is increasing. If I talk about my country, here it is around 0.10$ or above per kilowatt-hour. And thinking about mining with this electricity cost is like a dream. I have thought about investing in mining many times, but I had to back down for this reason alone.

Well that’s a whole discussion on its own..

But I think using the  renewable energy sources can make it profitable in the future even though it cost a lot to set up but since the mining farm would continue using the electricity in the long run, they might get back their investment and profits.

Using renewable energy sources in this case, I’m referring to building a complete off-grid energy infrastructure to power the mining. That would cost a lot, meaning miners with huge capital to invest are the ones that might get the profits, so many of the smaller scale miners are probably not going to get much profit from mining in the future.

To make Bitcoin mining profitable, electricity costs need to be reduced, and whether that will decrease in the future is a million-dollar question. Even if we use green energy here, installing, repairing, or replacing them is an expensive process.

We can’t know the future though, so everything we say is just speculation but if in the future using fossil fuels becomes cheaper than the renewable energy then the miners would go with the cheaper electricity option..

[X-ray]

1. Using enough renewable energy:  Mining
 operations is very essential and can be strengthen by hydro electric source , wind, or solar power.  Which is preferable instead of fossil fuels always.In methods with abundant renewable energy, this can significantly reduce carbon emissions in it.

Bitcoin is already using renewable energy to power the mining activity more than 50% which consisted of pure renewable and nuclear energy.

50% is more than enough compared to AI data center that mostly uses coal and Bitcoin if compared to other is already on the greener side.

2. Applying excesses energy support:
 Some miners use electricity that would be channel  to waste, examples surplus hydropower,  meanwhile during rainy period that would help to be flared at oil fields.


4.Getting back wasted  heat:
It's certain that the heat produced by mining products can be used to keep a place warmly for a while.  example poultry house, making good use of the energy used.
 

Some mining farm is already using excess energy to mine Bitcoin to get additional profit and not let it to waste and also on the colder climate region, they are already using mining farm to heat, in Finland mining company MARA is channeling the thermal output to heat thousands homes.

Bitcoin is already sustainable even today, far sustainable than any AI data center.

[joniboini]

Some mining farm is already using excess energy to mine Bitcoin to get additional profit and not let it to waste and also on the colder climate region, they are already using mining farm to heat, in Finland mining company MARA is channeling the thermal output to heat thousands homes.

How common is something like this in the west? I can't imagine seeing one in my region. It's already quite hot here, unless they're mining near a mountain. Even then the cost of running one is probably quite high. Not cost effective compared to renting their hardware for other purposes. I'm also not sure about AI using coal and traditional energy. What's the reason for that? It feels like those companies can easily buy out an energy company to power their farm. I remember reading about companies buying water stock to cool their datacenter just a few months ago.

[Nathrixxx]

Everything about Bitcoin, down to the mining process, is made sustainable for our use; we only have to know the pathways through which we can achieve this without any struggle over the network when we don't know what to do.

It has also been argued over time that Bitcoin mining is an environmental disaster, while on several occasions it has also been proven that Bitcoin is environmentally friendly, and people are getting to understand more about this and other benefits that can be derived from mining Bitcoin, making it more sustainable for human use.

[hd49728]

I respectfully disagree. Still about 40% of mining relies on fossil fuels, and that's not even taking into account "flare mining".[1]  That can and should be better. Mining could be easily using 80-90% of renewables/nuclear, and solar energy since more than 5 years is the cheapest electricity source that exists.

Thanks for your input information. It's definitely a lot of space for further usage of energy from sustainable and renewable resources but my point is there are many attacks and fuds against Bitcoin. They make it like Bitcoin mining is a dirtiest industry globally, which is very untrue.

The following charts taken from Bitcoin mining council: H1 2023 report can somewhat shows this fact.

Sustainable power mix
BMC member data: 63.1%
Global BTC Mining: 59.95

Of course Bitcoin mining industry has changed since H1 2023.

[d5000]

They make it like Bitcoin mining is a dirtiest industry globally, which is very untrue.
[...]
Sustainable power mix
BMC member data: 63.1%
Global BTC Mining: 59.95

Of course it's not "the dirtiest industry in the world". The point is that it is still not an especially "clean" industry.

For example, the US electricity mix is already at almost 50% renewables + nuclear (Source: Ember Energy). And that Bitcoin mining is a little bit better is not really strange because most mining companies turn their gear off when there is a shortage of power -- due to their contracts with the electricity distributors --, and in the modern (renewables-driven) electricity mix this means that the fossil percentage is high in these timeframes.

IMO there IS FUD. But it would be much better to refute that FUD not only by even increasing the renewables percentage, but also by showing that Bitcoin is actually really useful. But many Bitcoiners still propagate the narrative that Bitcoin is only good for speculation. And you can speculate with high risk/return also with things like penny stocks, gold and PoS altcoins. (I'm playing the Devil's advocate, but that is like many people think!)

Ending that FUD is thus a more complex effort than just showing that Bitcoin is using a slightly more sustainable electricity mix than the US, a country that's not exactly among the forerunners of renewables. Bitcoin should have instead an electricity mix like Norway, Denmark or Brazil (all close to 80-90% or even further, like Norway which has in total almost 100% and even exports storage capacity to Central Europe).