Every new innovation has its positive side as well as negative side. Probably the power consumption is one of the negative factors of bitcoin.
Considering this, alternative energies like solar panel can be used to mine bitcoin. A full time bitcoin earner can install few solar panels at his home and use that power to mine bitcoin. Only one time investment is required for this and the return is life long. Miners should think more seriously about it.
Topic: Bitcoin is Bad for the environment, taking the worlds energy - yes? - page 5. (Read 4068 times)
June 16, 2016, 10:59:32 PM
June 16, 2016, 10:55:40 PM
there is already a lot of other things that are bad for the environment and they are wasting a lot more energy than bitcoin mining.
besides these mining farms that are mainly mining bitcoin are located in third world countries where they waste a lot of energy and they don't care!
besides these mining farms that are mainly mining bitcoin are located in third world countries where they waste a lot of energy and they don't care!
June 16, 2016, 10:42:30 PM
So make a coin where the computational power is put to use - like foldingcoin. But we all know how foldingcoin turned out...
Agree with this, all those devices should be put to a better task. also, by simply using renewable sources of energy, and wih the continuing evolution of chip efficiency, this shouldn't be a problem if bitcoin reaches primetime. State actors will provide more efficient mining solutions if necessary.
June 16, 2016, 10:40:20 PM
So make a coin where the computational power is put to use - like foldingcoin. But we all know how foldingcoin turned out...
June 16, 2016, 10:22:39 PM
Energy can always be converted into one form to another.The electrical waste coming from the industrial and mechanical section is way above the meters compared to the mining industry.That doesn't seem like a problem since we have come up with the alternatives to recycle and conserve energy.If you look at it as an environmental factor,we're literally saving the cost of "fiat money paper" which is made from the trees and is worse.
June 16, 2016, 10:01:51 PM
Mining uses more power than a country of 4-5 million people? Each of whom have washing machines, vibrators, Teslas, streetlamps outside their houses, trams and on and on.
I'm sure Bitcoin's carbon footprint is a disgrace considering the tiny number of users, but that seems like an excessive statistic.
Bitcoin uses as much electricity as X vibrators. Can someone calculate X?I'm sure Bitcoin's carbon footprint is a disgrace considering the tiny number of users, but that seems like an excessive statistic.
But I suspect that bitcoin will be powered by wind and solar power in the future, and I'm not worried about it. Nor about the vibrators.
This literally made my day LMAO
I've read there are plans to make wind/solar farms dedicated to mining bitcoins in some country. Let me just try to find that article
June 16, 2016, 09:50:08 PM
(I think this should go in mining)
There has been a lot of talk on this. Quite a few good papers
https://karlodwyer.github.io/publications/pdf/bitcoin_KJOD_2014.pdf
From this paper: "Bitcoin mining is comparable to Ireland’s electricity consumption".
As bitcoin grows the amount of energy on the planet is not increasing. Anyone who understands the article, it seems very legitimate to me, discuss, Yes, I realize the miner wants to reduce cost & cut waste. Therefore they may seek alternative forms or desire to do so. Yes, I read about the Hydrofarmer on this very forum. It is just not the norm with all the major miners around the planet. Proof of work is expensive. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work
**Title was sarcastic. But it is still something to think about?
There has been a lot of talk on this. Quite a few good papers
https://karlodwyer.github.io/publications/pdf/bitcoin_KJOD_2014.pdf
From this paper: "Bitcoin mining is comparable to Ireland’s electricity consumption".
As bitcoin grows the amount of energy on the planet is not increasing. Anyone who understands the article, it seems very legitimate to me, discuss, Yes, I realize the miner wants to reduce cost & cut waste. Therefore they may seek alternative forms or desire to do so. Yes, I read about the Hydrofarmer on this very forum. It is just not the norm with all the major miners around the planet. Proof of work is expensive. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work
**Title was sarcastic. But it is still something to think about?
there is already another topic about it here
sarcastic or not, there are a lot of other things that are consuming a lot more power than bitcoin.
the banking system with all these branches which all have a lot of power hungry computers inside are consuming more power than bitcoin.
June 16, 2016, 09:42:18 PM
Mining uses more power than a country of 4-5 million people? Each of whom have washing machines, vibrators, Teslas, streetlamps outside their houses, trams and on and on.
I'm sure Bitcoin's carbon footprint is a disgrace considering the tiny number of users, but that seems like an excessive statistic.
Bitcoin uses as much electricity as X vibrators. Can someone calculate X?I'm sure Bitcoin's carbon footprint is a disgrace considering the tiny number of users, but that seems like an excessive statistic.
But I suspect that bitcoin will be powered by wind and solar power in the future, and I'm not worried about it. Nor about the vibrators.
June 16, 2016, 09:16:56 PM
Yeah bitcoin is taking the world energy and make the environment worse because of mass electricity are used for bitcoin transaction and mining. But all the banks also use more electricity to be able to do all the transactions. And then money paper needs many papers and they're from our forest 
. I think everything in this world needs energy, but we can find a way to reduce the energy consumption with solar power plant that the others said about.
. I think everything in this world needs energy, but we can find a way to reduce the energy consumption with solar power plant that the others said about. 
June 16, 2016, 09:16:22 PM
I think that we already have so much extra energy that people don't use, it is better to use it for something good like mining Bitcoin. Banks probably use the same amount of energy as a Bitcoin farm. And there are far less Bitcoin farms compared to banks.
So much extra energy?What do you mean? Average people using non-renewable energy because they rely on their country and if the country using a non-renewable energy. it's will waste the energy. 
June 16, 2016, 09:11:14 PM
Ireland energy consumption in 2013 was 10,825 ktoe = 4.33 x 1017J
China energy consumption increase between 2009 and 2010 was (2173.5-2068.5)mtce = 105mtce = 3.15 x 1018J
The energy consumption by bitcoin is really huge and wasteful, but comparing to the "world's factory", it is just about 1/10th of the annual increase in consumption in China.
* toe = tonne of oil equivalent
* tce = tonne of coal equivalent
China energy consumption increase between 2009 and 2010 was (2173.5-2068.5)mtce = 105mtce = 3.15 x 1018J
The energy consumption by bitcoin is really huge and wasteful, but comparing to the "world's factory", it is just about 1/10th of the annual increase in consumption in China.
* toe = tonne of oil equivalent
* tce = tonne of coal equivalent
thank you for what I was about to type.
Here is another set of facts of btc mining.
1.300th at .5 watts a gh is 650 watts. the network is mostly s-7's so we are less then .5 watts a gh
13.000th " " " " " " 6500 watts
130.000th " " " " " " 65000 watts
1.30000ph " " " " " " 650000 watts
13____________________ 6500000 watts or 6.5mega watts
130___________________ 65000000 watts or 65 mega watts
1300ph________________ 650000000 watts or 650 mega watts 24/7/365
Niagara Falls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Moses_Niagara_Power_Plant
does 2,525 MW so about 4x the worlds btc power use.
another fun fact a typical football stadium with older lighting need 350 kwatts to lit the field. So 3 or four hours is 1.4megawatts.
So if all sports were done in the daylight worldwide power savings would be huge far more then BTC burns.
June 16, 2016, 08:59:39 PM
Ireland energy consumption in 2013 was 10,825 ktoe = 4.33 x 1017J
China energy consumption increase between 2009 and 2010 was (2173.5-2068.5)mtce = 105mtce = 3.15 x 1018J
The energy consumption by bitcoin is really huge and wasteful, but comparing to the "world's factory", it is just about 1/10th of the annual increase in consumption in China.
* toe = tonne of oil equivalent
* tce = tonne of coal equivalent
China energy consumption increase between 2009 and 2010 was (2173.5-2068.5)mtce = 105mtce = 3.15 x 1018J
The energy consumption by bitcoin is really huge and wasteful, but comparing to the "world's factory", it is just about 1/10th of the annual increase in consumption in China.
* toe = tonne of oil equivalent
* tce = tonne of coal equivalent
June 16, 2016, 08:50:48 PM
OP is FUD.
FTFY. That's the only (3 word) sentence that is plausible from that post.
June 16, 2016, 08:37:39 PM
This years Darwin award goes to...
The whole anthropogenic global warming debate is nothing more than a very smart way of making the people of the world pay government cronies for the right to breathe. Several doomsday scenarios were predicted to have struck midnight by the year 2016, and none of them have come to pass. Natural climate change is much, much more powerful than 0.01% changes in CO2 atmospheric composition that burning fossil fuels has contributed; Bitcoin mining compares to the previous 2 factors as an infinitesimally small blip. OP is FUD.
June 16, 2016, 08:21:20 PM
Its true that bitcoin mining activity consumes a lot of energy, but it can be handle with solar power and other other solution and if thats is being handled i dont think bitcoin is bad for environment again
June 16, 2016, 08:10:22 PM
(I think this should go in mining)
There has been a lot of talk on this. Quite a few good papers
https://karlodwyer.github.io/publications/pdf/bitcoin_KJOD_2014.pdf
From this paper: "Bitcoin mining is comparable to Ireland’s electricity consumption".
As bitcoin grows the amount of energy on the planet is not increasing. Anyone who understands the article, it seems very legitimate to me, discuss, Yes, I realize the miner wants to reduce cost & cut waste. Therefore they may seek alternative forms or desire to do so. Yes, I read about the Hydrofarmer on this very forum. It is just not the norm with all the major miners around the planet. Proof of work is expensive. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work
**Title was sarcastic. But it is still something to think about?
There has been a lot of talk on this. Quite a few good papers
https://karlodwyer.github.io/publications/pdf/bitcoin_KJOD_2014.pdf
From this paper: "Bitcoin mining is comparable to Ireland’s electricity consumption".
As bitcoin grows the amount of energy on the planet is not increasing. Anyone who understands the article, it seems very legitimate to me, discuss, Yes, I realize the miner wants to reduce cost & cut waste. Therefore they may seek alternative forms or desire to do so. Yes, I read about the Hydrofarmer on this very forum. It is just not the norm with all the major miners around the planet. Proof of work is expensive. https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Proof_of_work
**Title was sarcastic. But it is still something to think about?
I have read that paper. But i dont think it will be a matter since there are mining farms right now that are using solar power. I think its halleybtc and cryptomining.farm that uses solar power. If new generation minng farms will use alternative energy then power consumption is no longer a problem.
June 16, 2016, 07:53:11 PM
Maybe decentralization and solar power can play a role in the future of mining. Chinese mega farms are run by coal power plants and are more dependent on bitcoin's price and profitability. Lots of people with solar panels on their roof (and perhaps battery/accu solutions in their basement) could sustain the network even if the big farms can no longer turn a profit while considerably hurting the environment. Home miners can and always have used the heat from mining to heat their houses in winter, spring and fall. They would need to "waste" that heat in one way or another, so using it for securing the btc network is a reasonable purpose/bonus. Sure, mining on solar power will not sustain a big farm (depending on your house I guess) but bitcoin would still work without the mega farms. All that needs to happen is a considerable price correction, unfortunately.
June 16, 2016, 07:32:16 PM
Every economic activity (and even every human activity) leaves a carbon footprint, but actually I don't think bitcoin mining is an important factor to affect the worldwide environment so much. Paper money has previously affected much more, and mining to get the necessary metals to minting coins has been much more damaging.
June 16, 2016, 06:36:55 PM
The whole anthropogenic global warming debate is nothing more than a very smart way of making the people of the world pay government cronies for the right to breathe. Several doomsday scenarios were predicted to have struck midnight by the year 2016, and none of them have come to pass. Natural climate change is much, much more powerful than 0.01% changes in CO2 atmospheric composition that burning fossil fuels has contributed; Bitcoin mining compares to the previous 2 factors as an infinitesimally small blip. OP is FUD.
Did you read and understand the research? The author is hardly a "Nazi environmentalist". There are other journals out there which suggest the same. Though they seem to be a little bias. Which part of the research do you disagree with?
June 16, 2016, 06:27:42 PM
I think that we already have so much extra energy that people don't use, it is better to use it for something good like mining Bitcoin. Banks probably use the same amount of energy as a Bitcoin farm. And there are far less Bitcoin farms compared to banks.
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