Can Bitcoin mining become more sustainable?

[hd49728]

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

I agree and I know you are not a person who is anti-Bitcoin.

I believe you also know a famous saying "The truth lies somewhere in the middle" and it's true with Bitcoin energy consumption too. It's not the dirtiest industry, not the cleanest one but the point is it is better than many industries, nations that are used to attack Bitcoin mining industry.

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.

There are still many opportunities for increasing percent of clean, renewable, sustainable energy resource in Bitcoin mining industry from technological innovations, applications to mining locations and operations. It takes time but the human civilization are going toward the future this way, and Bitcoin mining industry will not be the exception, while I believe it will be more or the most adaptive in this energy consumption shift.

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!)

That's stupid and people must beware of this stupid idea.

There is no convincing point for shifting from PoW (decentralized) to PoS (centralized). If they need an example to wake them up, it's Ethereum.

[Alvin_talk]

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.

You know, the whole aim here is to minimise the cost of electricity while maximising profit. From this point of view, I think geographical location plays a role in this rather just focusing 100% on renewable energy. If I am to go by this factor, then I will probably prefer flare mining for my location instead of renewable energy mining because it is literally free in my location, I discussed that in this Local thread post.

Yeah, I'm also aware that renewable energy makes the environment cleaner but this is still hypocrisy from the part of so many government, they claim to reduce carbon emission yet they subsidise oil and gas production, approve new drilling project and continue building infrastructure for fossil fuel. This kinda make me feel the government is just blabbing and nothing more.

[BluebloodCXVI]

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.

Halving puts more pressure on miners, Yes!!
Does that mean mining as a whole becomes less sustainable, fuck No!

Mining has always been a competitive business, so as soon as the less efficient miners start to drop out, the difficulty adjust(downwards if enough miners leave). Giving the more efficient ones a better chance to stay profitable.

Also don’t forget that bitcoin wasn’t designed to rely on block rewards forever.
Transaction fees are expected to make up a bigger share of a miner’s income as the network continues to grow over time, alongside other factors like bitcoin’s value and more efficient mining operations.

I think it is very clear to us  by now  that Bitcoin doesn’t need every miner to stay in business for it to keep working.
Surely some companies will always drop out of business while others will adapt and replace them, just like any other competitive industry.

But as long as enough efficient miners still exist to keep securing the network, Bitcoin will keep doing exactly what it was designed to do.

[AmoreJaz]

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.

Whoever said and made that case study that it's an environment disaster, they're bias against Bitcoin.
Look at the other industries that are causing more pollution by its generation of byproducts.
While it's truly arguable that bitcoin mining isn't clean for most mining farms. The shift to cleaner and renewable energy is happening.
IMO, Bitcoin mining is in the middle of all of these but as soon as the mining farms shift to renewable energy, as the majority if not all.
Then, let's wait how these critics will say that it's not sustainable and consumes clean energy.

Let us put it this way, most industries are contributing to the pollution that we have and bitcoin mining is no exception. That's a fact. Howevet, we can reduce its carbon footprint if we will deploy renewable sources of energy to operate your mining business. It may incur good amount of money but later on, you will reap the benefits as the maintenance is quite minimal.

[stompix]

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

Only someone who doesn't have a clue how mining works will claim more efficient gear will drive consumption down.
The new s21u is about 100 times more efficient than the first Bitmain asic, did consumption dropped 100 times since then?

This is not coal mining, not oil mining, now berry picking.

Daily, there is a pot of $30 million to be picked by miners, you get as much of that pot as you have hashrate, with more efficient gear you get more hashrate for each kwh, meaning that every miner will have to be competitive and upgrade to the newest gear, changing nothing.

The only thing capping consumption is the reward!!!
As long as miners get 30 million per day they can afford to pay at least half of that in electricity, Bitcoin goes to 600k they would afford to pay 300 million in electricity, Bitcoin goes to $6 they have 30 000 a day!