All that mined is not green: Bitcoin’s carbon footprint hard to estimate

[LazY]

The debate around the environmental impact of the Bitcoin mining ecosystem is heating up once again as academics have provided a fresh dose of perspective on the subject. In an opinion piece written by Noah Smith, a former assistant finance professor turned columnist, took aim at the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry in March, suggesting that the constantly growing energy consumption of the network is simply unsustainable. Smith’s belief is that more countries will clamp down on Bitcoin mining as they use more power, given that the increasing price of BTC is always matched by rising hash rates.

While Coin Metrics founder Nic Carter has rebutted some of the points raised in Smith’s column, there still seems to be divided opinion around the amount of energy that Bitcoin mining draws, the sources of this energy and the carbon footprint that the industry has on the planet.

The mining industry is arguably inclined to downplay the extent of its resource-intensive work, and some industry insiders have suggested that talk of Bitcoin’s environmental impact is a non-issue and that data suggests a large share of hash power draws energy from renewable sources. Nevertheless, environmental advocates have aimed their sights at the industry in return, which has created a seemingly never-ending debate on the subject.

Cointelegraph has spoken with several academics in this area to gain an alternative view on the matter, for example, those behind the Cambridge Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, which has become a trusted point of reference for the estimated power consumption of the Bitcoin network, albeit with some self-confessed limitations.

Furthermore, Aalborg University Ph.D. fellow Susanne Köhler and associate professor Massimo Pizzol co-authored a study titled “Life Cycle Assessment of Bitcoin Mining” that gives some>

All that mined is not green: Bitcoin’s carbon footprint hard to estimate
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