What is your view on cryptocurrency? Bitcoin mining alone could cause catastrophic climate change. A study on climate change suggests that bitcoin mining requires a lot of energy to run the computers that secure its transactions. Its popularity could mean temperature would rise 35,6°F by 2033, which could contribute to catastrophic and irreversible effects on our climate, according to a recent UN report. Mining bitcoin utilizes computer networks that crunch numbers on complex math problems and award bitcoin when solved. A report by Dutch economist Alex de Vries found that energy needed to fuel bitcoin is almost equivalent to the amount needed to run the entire country of Austria.
They also found bitcoin mining created 69 million metric tons of CO2 in 2017. To combat bitcoin’s impact on climate change, researchers suggest switching to clean energy but say even renewables might not be enough to stop the impact.
In numbers
The index assumes that miners will spand 60% of their revenues on operational costs on average in equilibrium. For every 5 cents that were spent on operational costs it is assumed that 1 kilowatt-hour (kWh) was consumed.
Price movements can be small or large, but new energy-hungry machines won’t all appear overnight. Realistic behaviour is introduced by linking price dynamics to the expected time required for producers to fully respond to a changing situation. The index is built on the premise that new machines will continue to be produced for as long as it’s possible to do so, until the market reaches an equilibrium where making a profit is no so longer possible.
To put the energy consumed by the Bitcoin network into perspective we can compare it to another payment system like VISA for example.
Source: bitcoinenergyconsumption.com, facebook.com/NowThisFuture, digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
