Topic: Bitcoin is now consuming 1% of the world's electricity. Is that sustainable? - page 8. (Read 13960 times)
August 29, 2018, 04:26:27 PM
Bitcoins sustainability in terms of electricity consumption is not alarming as there are dozens of power to make bitcoins runs. Renewable energy with solar energy can help bitcoins mining reduce it dependent on the world's electricity.
August 29, 2018, 04:14:33 PM
If it's real figure that is pretty bonkers indeed, but if a large proportion of the world's money and information wound up stored on the Bitcoin chain then it starts to look like a pretty good deal.
At present it's nowhere near that and that amount of profligacy is not good however you want to look at it. But it's possible it'll drive renewable developments and fill existing renewable surpluses such as the hydro plants in China that have a massive excess of unused power that miners have been using.
Considering how quickly the hash rate is rising I wonder how much more headroom is left before it becomes truly obnoxious.
At present it's nowhere near that and that amount of profligacy is not good however you want to look at it. But it's possible it'll drive renewable developments and fill existing renewable surpluses such as the hydro plants in China that have a massive excess of unused power that miners have been using.
Considering how quickly the hash rate is rising I wonder how much more headroom is left before it becomes truly obnoxious.
Indeed, it may not be the perfect value that is being shown here as we dont know how many miners are actually working on this and how many of them are shutter down themselves long back ago. Even if it is 2% or 5% then also I believe it is safest window for the energy consumption because for any multi national company that would be the same case. Now we cant go out there and close all of them or put them on the renewable source of energy. So why not consider the bitcoin as the same MNC corporation which is unlike others that exists here around. Im pretty sure that you will have some correlation between the two now and it doesnt matter yet and yes developments in the renewable would be the last option to continue things around.
August 29, 2018, 04:10:24 PM
this has been talked about soo much. many topics
summary:
these bitcoin miners have special contracts with energy companies for the energy companies to produce X amount of electric day or night.
this is good. because these power stations have a guaranteed stream of income and also a measurable utility it can prdict.
if power stations could produce sat 30mwat. but residentially it only produces 25mwat between 4pm and 9pm and drops to 15mwat ovrnigh-morning. the power station would not just stay at 25mwat all day and night. they would keep switching on and off as demand drops and rises.
sometimes because it takes 30 minutes+ to warm up the generators they end up having to grab(import) excess electric from neighbouring power stations to cover any random spikes of utility.
there have been times whre brown outs have occured when suddenly many people used electric but the power stations could not predict it. the UK had statistics that there are sudden spikes that happen during commercials of tv shows. because people suddenly go to their kitchen turn on the kitchen light. turn on their kettle to make a cup of coffee.
imagine 1million people suddenly flipping the switch of a kettle of 1800wat for jsut 5 minutes...
so power companies LOVE guaranteed income and measurable utility it can predict..
also
power companies over the last decade have switched and grown their renewable electricity sources. this is why amrican power stations have suddenly started being bitcoin mining farm happy. they have seen the benefit to iceland and the benefit to china
dont believe the FUD of "governments hate bitcoin" when you separate "government" and utility companies to see that utility companies love it as they can more happily keep a few extra generators running without having to warm up/warm down generators at certain times of day. they can also use the income from the mining farms to expand. or atleast not need to import electric during times of spikes. which saves them money
last point
compared to 2012, the GPU mining days. bitcoin mining is very much energy efficient. and becoming more energy efficient
take this year new 7nm ASICS vs 14nm ASICS can do:
14nm can do ~14terrahash for 1.3kw
7nm can do ~28terrahash for under 1kw
so although the hashrate may double the electric needed for a doubled hashrate goes DOWN
now think about how many GPU's would be needed to do 14 terrahashes of mining. if ASICS never became a thing
summary:
these bitcoin miners have special contracts with energy companies for the energy companies to produce X amount of electric day or night.
this is good. because these power stations have a guaranteed stream of income and also a measurable utility it can prdict.
if power stations could produce sat 30mwat. but residentially it only produces 25mwat between 4pm and 9pm and drops to 15mwat ovrnigh-morning. the power station would not just stay at 25mwat all day and night. they would keep switching on and off as demand drops and rises.
sometimes because it takes 30 minutes+ to warm up the generators they end up having to grab(import) excess electric from neighbouring power stations to cover any random spikes of utility.
there have been times whre brown outs have occured when suddenly many people used electric but the power stations could not predict it. the UK had statistics that there are sudden spikes that happen during commercials of tv shows. because people suddenly go to their kitchen turn on the kitchen light. turn on their kettle to make a cup of coffee.
imagine 1million people suddenly flipping the switch of a kettle of 1800wat for jsut 5 minutes...
so power companies LOVE guaranteed income and measurable utility it can predict..
also
power companies over the last decade have switched and grown their renewable electricity sources. this is why amrican power stations have suddenly started being bitcoin mining farm happy. they have seen the benefit to iceland and the benefit to china
dont believe the FUD of "governments hate bitcoin" when you separate "government" and utility companies to see that utility companies love it as they can more happily keep a few extra generators running without having to warm up/warm down generators at certain times of day. they can also use the income from the mining farms to expand. or atleast not need to import electric during times of spikes. which saves them money
last point
compared to 2012, the GPU mining days. bitcoin mining is very much energy efficient. and becoming more energy efficient
take this year new 7nm ASICS vs 14nm ASICS can do:
14nm can do ~14terrahash for 1.3kw
7nm can do ~28terrahash for under 1kw
so although the hashrate may double the electric needed for a doubled hashrate goes DOWN
now think about how many GPU's would be needed to do 14 terrahashes of mining. if ASICS never became a thing
August 29, 2018, 03:52:00 PM
The biggest obstacle to increasing bitcoin prices is mining and energy consumption. I think it is not possible to go far without finding a solution to these.
August 29, 2018, 03:50:39 PM
If it's real figure that is pretty bonkers indeed, but if a large proportion of the world's money and information wound up stored on the Bitcoin chain then it starts to look like a pretty good deal.
At present it's nowhere near that and that amount of profligacy is not good however you want to look at it. But it's possible it'll drive renewable developments and fill existing renewable surpluses such as the hydro plants in China that have a massive excess of unused power that miners have been using.
Considering how quickly the hash rate is rising I wonder how much more headroom is left before it becomes truly obnoxious.
At present it's nowhere near that and that amount of profligacy is not good however you want to look at it. But it's possible it'll drive renewable developments and fill existing renewable surpluses such as the hydro plants in China that have a massive excess of unused power that miners have been using.
Considering how quickly the hash rate is rising I wonder how much more headroom is left before it becomes truly obnoxious.
August 29, 2018, 03:49:54 PM
You have to consider what value Bitcoin is providing, and what services it might be replacing. For example: How much electricity does the banking industry consume? What about the gold mining, minting and storage industries? Here's an article that discusses those comparisons.
One of the things Bitcoin's energy consumption is paying for is immutability. So far, there is no mechanism besides proof-of-work that can provide the same level of security.
One of the things Bitcoin's energy consumption is paying for is immutability. So far, there is no mechanism besides proof-of-work that can provide the same level of security.
August 29, 2018, 03:44:11 PM
The banks are still running since couple of 100 years now and there digitalisation has grown vastly since 100 years. What do you think how much electricity they might have used up until now? I guess this number might be huge and they might using the largest electric supply as they are the basis of whole financial system all over the globe. Just imagine how much there equipments, safes, surveillance, Internet connectivity and much more might be consuming as compared to the bitcoin. Believe me, that comprison makes sense, bitcoin is still tiny bit.
August 29, 2018, 03:28:33 PM
From the ecology point of view this sounds bad and something should be done. Still I beleive there are other things that spend more energy than bitcoin. Maybe some sustainable alternative energy source could be the solution. I would like to believe that bitcoiners are environment friendly and think for the future generations.
August 29, 2018, 03:24:59 PM
One year ago Bitcoin's network was consuming as much energy as Ireland. Now it has apparently doubled and now it is consuming 1% of the world's total electricity consumption.
https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
This, in a time when the world is trying to reduce carbon footprints to avoid or slow down global warming.
Is Bitcoin sustainable as it is?
I don't think so - in fact I'm sure it is not. There is a limit to insanity.
More data here:
https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
What is likely to happen next? Which are your thoughts?
https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
This, in a time when the world is trying to reduce carbon footprints to avoid or slow down global warming.
Is Bitcoin sustainable as it is?
I don't think so - in fact I'm sure it is not. There is a limit to insanity.
More data here:
https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption
What is likely to happen next? Which are your thoughts?
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