Bitcoin mining and electricity

[vegasus]

One of the negative sides of mining is how it spends electricity. Although there are so many things in the world that use electricity, mining really spend a big amount of electric power. that is why in some countries, mining is forbidden in order to avoid losing electric power so suddenly in the country.

[Freemind]

Yesterday a user of a news aggregator from my country, tired of everyone complaining about the electricity consumption of Bitcoin, did a very good data collection:

Bitcoin consumption: 134 TWh

Annual consumption of Smartphones: 5.5 kwh
Units sold in 2020 = 1.3 billion
Total annual consumption: 71.5 TWh

Annual consumption PS4: 120 kwh
Units sold: 115 million
Total consumption: 138 TWh

Annual consumption Xbox 360: 150 kwh
Units sold: 84 million
Total consumption: 96 TWh

The user did not include the consumption of PC gamers for example, nor the consumption of banks worldwide, but I think these data make things very clear. Bitcoin may not consume as much energy after all.

[gurunanakji777]

Ever since Elon has said that bitcoin uses a lot of electricity, everyone has been talking about mining but earlier it was not an issue. I also appreciate more green energy should be used to mine even many countries have set the target to use green energy. Elon is a big influencer and he should avoid diplomatic statements about BTC. If I plan to mine it is very costly in my country with current charges of the electricity. Mining is profitable only for those who have cheaper electricity otherwise buy a bitcoin is quite cheap rather than mining.

[AlviNess]

Many countries around the world have opted for bitcoin mining to increase the total supply of bitcoin. But so far no country has been able to continue mining bitcoin. Because the amount of electrical energy required to mine a bitcoin can be used to purchase two bitcoins with that amount of resources. A few days ago, I saw that Iran has completely stopped mining bitcoin in their country.

[Freemind]

Many countries around the world have opted for bitcoin mining to increase the total supply of bitcoin. But so far no country has been able to continue mining bitcoin. Because the amount of electrical energy required to mine a bitcoin can be used to purchase two bitcoins with that amount of resources. A few days ago, I saw that Iran has completely stopped mining bitcoin in their country.

In part you are right, but not in everything you say. It is true that sometimes it is cheaper to buy Bitcoin than to mine it, but it depends on the country. For example, in Venezuela, the electricity needed to mine a Bitcoin costs $531, and in Iceland it is also very cheap, although I do not have the exact data at the moment. In several countries in South America it is much cheaper to mine than to buy.

[Dexzon]

Yesterday a user of a news aggregator from my country, tired of everyone complaining about the electricity consumption of Bitcoin, did a very good data collection:

Bitcoin consumption: 134 TWh

Annual consumption of Smartphones: 5.5 kwh
Units sold in 2020 = 1.3 billion
Total annual consumption: 71.5 TWh

Annual consumption PS4: 120 kwh
Units sold: 115 million
Total consumption: 138 TWh

Annual consumption Xbox 360: 150 kwh
Units sold: 84 million
Total consumption: 96 TWh

The user did not include the consumption of PC gamers for example, nor the consumption of banks worldwide, but I think these data make things very clear. Bitcoin may not consume as much energy after all.

I agree with this data, my friend works in a banking telecommunication company and they spend 532kWh per month, I can't send you a screenshot of this data, because this data is company secret, if we compare it with the electricity consumption of the miners, obviously the calculation is far beyond existing news, it looks like news makers and influecers are trying to bite the miners so that they stop mining.

[Dora Walletinvestor]

Ever since Elon has said that bitcoin uses a lot of electricity, everyone has been talking about mining but earlier it was not an issue. I also appreciate more green energy should be used to mine even many countries have set the target to use green energy. Elon is a big influencer and he should avoid diplomatic statements about BTC. If I plan to mine it is very costly in my country with current charges of the electricity. Mining is profitable only for those who have cheaper electricity otherwise buy a bitcoin is quite cheap rather than mining.

The thing is, Bitcoin mining having a big environmental impact has always been an issue. The world just somehow didn't notice until Musk tweeted about it. Which kind of makes me question his credibility since he hadn't seemed to care about the issue when he initially started pumping Bitcoin and Doge.

[Freemind]

I agree with this data, my friend works in a banking telecommunication company and they spend 532kWh per month, I can't send you a screenshot of this data, because this data is company secret, if we compare it with the electricity consumption of the miners, obviously the calculation is far beyond existing news, it looks like news makers and influecers are trying to bite the miners so that they stop mining.

Thanks for that information. I have been looking for verified data on the electricity consumption of the banks for several days, but as you say that information is not public, or at least it is not public of all banks. But if we take the average monthly consumption that you have said, I think it is very clear that Bitcoin consumes little electricity compared to other things. It seems that the "problem" of the electricity consumption of Bitcoin is only FUD.

[Evgenklm]

The cost of mining bitcoin less than a year is comparable to the consumption of one small country, someone can say that this is a lot, and someone considers it a little, I believe everything is known in comparison, depending on what to compare, and of course we need to protect our nature and make the right choice.

[CryptoStar19]

Crypto hasn't changed recently... however the degree of power consumption in proof of work blockchains has been put under a microscope by the media recently. It's a bit unfair as there are many other industries that have the same problem but have not been put in the same negative light by the media... for example gold mining requires more energy that bitcoin mining world-wide and most of that gold is used as a store of value (rather than functional parts of electronic circuits let's say). Ultimately cryptocurrency is one of the best things that have happened to the world in forever, so the solution is ultimately to generate the needed power in a more environmentally friendly way and we will get there.

Some folks are upset at Elon Musk for unleashing the power-consumption FUD on the bitcoin / crypto community... but really in time regardless of what it is that takes a lot of energy, as humanity we need to move towards generating that energy in a more environmentally friendly way. The solution is obviously not to stop mining but to make it more eco-friendly... and this is something that we need to deal with, perhaps the recent attention in media to the power consumption will help us get there faster than otherwise.

[Anonylz]

Internet banking systems or ATMs usually transfer money with the help of an intermediary, which causes expenses twice as much trouble, that’s how bitcoin chooses to save the day with simple and fast transactions. To make bitcoin this much fast and convenient, a huge amount of electric power is being employed. The efficiency depends on hashes, which the mining hardware uses.
Bitcoin, according to bitcoin’s power usage tracker by Digiconomist, mines at a rate of 77.78 terawatt-hours per year, at the moment which is equal to the entire electricity usage in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. CoinShares has reported from their research that most of their energy comes from wind, hydroelectric and photovoltaic sources; these are all sustainable and renewable sources.
Many might be concerned with bitcoin’s mining substantiate in China. However, only 60% of it is being mined in China, while the 40% remaining take place in varying areas across Washington, New York, British Columbia, Iran, Sweden, Newfoundland, and a few more places.

I believe that a lot of argument has been made for this issue regarding Bitcoin mining and energy consumption.

From this Reddit article Energy consumption: Bitcoin mining vs Financial banking system]



And Bitcoin's energy use is less than half of banking, gold sectors: report]



As you mentioned, they're a lot of argument here that some of the miners are also using renewable energy and why don't they complain about these other sectors that actually consume more energy than Bitcoin mining? The only thing I see here is FUD.



 

[Mrkadir85]

Bitcoin mining is a complex process.  That's why no one can mine it if they want to.  The idea is that bitcoin is currently being mined in China.  A few days ago, news came out that there was a shortage of electricity in Iceland due to bitcoin mining.  Because bitcoin mining consumes a lot of electricity and requires a lot of powerful computer databases later.

[mikelahmed312]

I am a new member of the forum. Forgive me for saying anything wrong. Bitcoin mining and electricity work for each other. One is useless without the other

[Proton]

Today, Kazakhstan is the most important migration point for Chinese miners.  The data show that from 2020, Kazakhstan will produce 106 billion kWh of electricity and consume about 105 billion. There is a small surplus of electricity.  Which they want to use for mining.

[Suma Islam]

Bitcoin mining and electricity are each other's lives. One does not work without the other. It takes such electricity to make bitcoin. You need internet to do that mining.