Topic: Bitcoin Mining, a Potential Ally in Our Fight Against Climate Change. - page 2. (Read 278 times)

You can't stop the Bitcoin haters with such examples. They will always find other reasons to critique Bitcoin/crypto mining.
1.The production of solar panels is dirty and it pollutes the environment. The wind turbines are killing birds...
2.Bitcoin mining is wasting energy. It doesn't matter if it's green energy or not-so-green energy. The electricity used for crypto mining could have been used for something more productive in the traditional brick "and mortar" industries.
3.Bitcoin/crypto miners produce excessive heat, which warms up the planet. This is obviously a joke, but I can see a BTC hater using it as an argument.
Haters gonna hate, no matter what...

The paper that you linked



states that Bitcoin is not green, because the emissions of energy sources that it's uses are equal to the average of the electric grid

That paper also states that the supposed environmental benefits of Bitcoin mining remain theoretical, and there's no noticeable effects of Bitcoin on stimulating renewables yet

All of them are invalid arguments. That being said, most of the proponents of Bitcoin mining as being "green" is sprouting nonsense as well. For starters, there is a difference between renewable energy and truly green energy. True green energy are carbon neutral and does no damage to the environment. Your solar panels contributes to environmental pollution, so does your dam which destroys habitats, your wind turbines which endangers wildlife, etc. People want you to believe that they are good for the environment, because they appear to be somewhat carbon neutral if you ignore the implicit costs. This is a typical type of greenwashing that everyone is falling victim to.

If you're talking about extra energy that is difficult to store, that argument is invalid as well. High voltage electrical transmission, whilst introducing high energy loss, is still a viable option for most. The fact that Bitcoin mining is consuming energy already means that opportunity costs are being incurred by them having to use that energy for mining instead for domestic purposes. That is not withstanding the environmental pollution that comes from e-waste as well as silicon mining. Anyone that attempts to argue that Bitcoin is beneficial or otherwise carbon neutral is straight up lying.

If I'm being honest, I think bitcoin mining uses more electrical energy from coal, and fossil fuels. Admit it or not, several years ago bitcoin miners were still using energy from energy sources that were damaging to the environment. Besides that, the need for electricity to mine bitcoin is very large, in 2020 it is estimated that the need for electricity for mining around the world is equivalent to the electricity needs of Argentina.

But, like the industry at large, things are moving toward improvement. Today, many bitcoin miners are starting to switch to renewable energy sources, and that is good news. Although not all of them, bitcoin miners are slowly supporting the use of environmentally friendly energy sources. In my opinion, currently the industrial world globally is moving towards renewable energy sources, and that requires process and time. Including bitcoin miners are also heading in that direction.

Bitcoin mining has gone far with the use of renewable energy source and there's less dependency on electrical power supply unlike before, there's more to see on the aspects of this same bitcoin mining being environmentally friendly, we can make this our own way of understanding the real idea on the use of bitcoin energy used for mining as an environmental friendly and cause no harm on the climate like the other source of mining do.

I agree that Bitcoin mining industry is green and environmental friendly enough, more than many industries and many national energy consumption.

I disagree if you say Bitcoin mining is a potential ally to fight against Climate change. It is not true as Bitcoin mining does not use 100% renewable energy so it causes green house gases that contribute to climate change and global warming.

The Bitcoin Mining industry consumes very small energy compares to other industries, nations and the whole world so to fight against Climate change, it must be done with many massive initiatives globally. Bitcoin mining industry is only one small contributor to the fight.

Bitcoin Mining Council Q4 2022 report and Its briefing video with more information.

Climate impacts of Bitcoin mining in the United States from MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.

You forgot to add that even energy or electricity produced by hydropower plants are excess for some countries mostly during the summer period, this doesn’t only wastes the energy but also the funds. Since the bitcoin mining inception many of these wasted energy or electricity have been used for mining saving it from wasting. Right now countries have started to build crypto mining farms near this plants. The country Kyrgyzstan is also looking towards that too, https://cryptopotato.com/kyrgyzstan-to-spend-20-million-to-build-a-hydropowered-crypto-mine-report/

Just like I have read on many threads on the forum. I have just come my own conclusion that the news that bitcoin or crypto mining was actually going to destroy the environment was just a false statement spread by government or media houses just to paint bitcoin bad and probably aid in there quest to stop bitcoin. Nothing more than that.
 

People who argue that bitcoin mining destroys the environment have to check their motives for saying so. I have yet to see any evidence that bitcoin mining destroys the environment; rather, what I am seeing is that bitcoin mining is, in fact, saving the environment. Below are three pieces of picture evidence of bitcoin mines actually helping to sustain our environment instead of destroying it

1) Bitcoin mining farm powered by solar energy.

The picture below is an immersion-cooled bitcoin mining farm powered by solar energy located in Norcross, Georgia.


2) Bitcoin mining farm powered by cooking oil
In a Guatemala lake town, cooking oil from restaurants which is usually thrown into the lake and causes pollution is now being used to power bitcoin mining ASICs. According to the article “This cooking oil would either be thrown out into the street or find its way to the landfill which sits several hundred feet above Lake Atitlán,” Melder explained. “Either way, it would find its way into the watershed and into the lake.”


3) Bitcoin mining farm powered by methane gas
With all the gas being flared, a bitcoin mining company in North Dakota is taking the excess which is methane gas and using it to power their mining farm. It methane gas is one that has naturally been destroying the environment but bitcoin mining solving this problem.


I will summarise by quoting this Forbes article titled, Everything You Need To Know About Bitcoin And The Environment. It says that Bitcoin's unique ability to harness stranded energy resources and mitigate potent greenhouse gas emissions positions it as a potential ally in our fight against climate change. There are simply a thousand and one pieces of evidence to show that bitcoin mining, if done the right way, doesn't destroy our environment.

Please share your thoughts.

Source:
- https://twitter.com/CleanSpark_Inc/status/1663948094164041738
- https://twitter.com/DocumentingBTC/status/1679300474170638337
- https://bitcoinmagazine.com/culture/guatemala-town-mining-bitcoin-with-used-oil
- https://twitter.com/promise_cr8774/status/1686234946933760000
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/07/07/everything-you-need-to-know-about-bitcoin-and-the-environment/?sh=24acb1ac46fc