[Research Paper] Bitcoin Mining produces 99% less emissions than Gold Mining!

[bit-by-bit]

Dear Mining Community,

If anyone ever has the gall to tell you that you are unsustainable wastes of electricity - fire back at them with this comprehensive and conclusive research data!

Gold Mining has the following impact every year:
- 475 million gigajoules of energy used
- 54 million tonnes of CO₂ produced
- Consumes 800 billion litres of water
- Consumes 400,000 tonnes of deadly cyanide
- Generates 4 billion tonnes of waste rock
- tens of thousands of worker deaths in recorded history, and an over 100 deaths a year in the modern age
- USD$600m of Conflict Gold mined every year, which it tainted with physical and sexual violence, and human enslavement.

Meanwhile, here are the stats about Bitcoin mining:
- 3.3 million gigajoules of energy used
- 550,000 tonnes of CO₂ (99% less than Gold mining!)
- No consumption of water or cyanide, and no generation of waste rock.


Link to the full research paper is here: http://dealingwithdisruption.com/2014/06/05/an-order-of-magnitude-estimate-of-the-relative-sustainability-of-the-bitcoin-network/


Keep fighting the good fight, and mine on!

[1714947344]

1714947344

[1714947344]

1714947344

[1714947344]

1714947344

[1714947344]

1714947344

[bitgeek]

Try telling that to those wealthy old farts controlling the industry. They'll tell you "I can wear gold, I can make a golden jewelry and give to my wife, when someone comes to my house and sees golden knobs he'll know what I worked for. Why would I want some numbers on a screen?"
Bitcoin has a long way to go.

[easy8]

i think it is becoming really trendy as well to take care of the environment!
 
but yeah, it's a shame that the attitude you just described can't be erased, and won't ever disappear... at least in my opinion, but i have a generally pessimistic view on consumers....
It's just how people are. They consume to show status, and unfortunately bitcoin is not a visible commodity

[bit-by-bit]

Not just trendy my good friend, it is becoming necessary - not for the sake of saving the planet, but for the sake of saving our species!

The planet will be 100% fine. It has been rocked by meteors, volcanos, earthquakes - you name it - for the past 4 billion years. The planet will cope with global warming and climate change. The human species won't

Bitcoin, our saviour! :p

[JohnFromWIT]

What will those bitcoin stats look like 10 years from now?
Are they going to grow at an enormous pace?
Either way: Yay Bitcoin!

[bit-by-bit]

I'd say that we'll only find out when it happens - way too many variables to speculate on it from now

I do have a firm belief that the emissions are most definitely trending downwards as cleaner energy will become the cheapest form of energy

[Shogen]

I can see that the total network hashrate is around 90 PH/s now.
Are there any rough estimate of the total power consumption of those ASICs?

[ajareselde]

nice statistics, but the amount of gold mine converted into fiat value, compared to the amount of bitcoins converted into fiat value is not 1:1.
from that, you cant realy compare theese two (atleast not yet )
but gold mining for profit is just another part on human stupidity, gold has excelent conductivity and its usage as jewlary is just dumb, it should be used where it needs to be used, in technology.

[guitarplinker]

Really interesting statistics. The bitcoin network is still taking tons of energy everyday, along with altcoins too.