Topic: Debunkin di "Bitcoin na environmental disaster" argument (Read 128 times)

Notice dat rejected energy accounts 4 around two-thirds of all electricity generation. Dis energy is produced but ultimately does not go 2 practical work. Di amount wen dey waste annually dey around 66.7 quadrillions of BTUs (for short: "quads") of power. 4 perspective, dat is di energy equivalent of wastin 2.3 billion metric tons 4 coal every year.

Di potential 4 Bitcoin-powered renewables is already evident in China. A 2019 report by Coinshares found dat approximately 75% of Bitcoin minin comes from renewable energy sources, much of which stems from newly created hydroelectricity. Dese new revenue streams dey brought power plants online, wch odawise would not have been economically viable given existin conditions.

So, if we think of Bitcoin as a battery, wat can we do wit it? Di critical properties 4 Bitcoin's battery are: 1) always on and permissionless (no need 2 dey  find customers, just plug and go) and 2) naturally seekin low-cost electricity: e go dey always buy wen di price dey right.

Given dose properties, Bitcoin's battery go assist renewable builds (and electric grids more generally) in several ways:

• Interconnection lines: Wen developin new energy resources, you must apply dem 2 connect dem 2 di grid. Texas alone has over 100 GW of renewables in its lines. Dese lines go take years 2 clear. In di meantime, dese assets go dey online and earn Bitcoin.
  
• Project finance: Renewable developers need capital 2 finance build-outs be4 dey get customers. Bitcoin's battery is always ready 2 be di first customer.
• Geographic issues: Sometimes, di sunniest, windiest places are not di ones wit di most customers, so e dey hard 2 justify di development of new renewables. Bitcoin's battery solves dis, becomin a "virtual transmission line" of sorts.
• Timin & grid balance: Sometimes, wen di sun shines and wen di wind blows is not wen we need di most electricity. Yet, electric grids are marketplaces dat must balance supply and demand perfectly. Dere4, grid-connected renewables often have to "curtail" (turn off) if dey produce too much energy at di wrong time. Bitcoin's battery is ready 2 buy 24/7/365 wen di price dey right, turnin up and down as needed and participatin via direct power purchase agreements and demand response programs.
• Underperformance: Related 2 di timin & balance issues above, often, renewables produce more energy dan is needed on deir grid, leadin to subpar financial performance. Bitcoin's battery dey ready 2 buy if no one else will.
• Cleanin di grid: Even outside of renewable generation, Bitcoin's battery can help improve both emissions and di energy mix. 4 example, Crusoe Energy attaches efficient turbines and minin equipment to existin gas flarin sites, both improvin emissions and convertin energy into Bitcoin's battery. Takin dis a step further, you could even den take dose profits and reinvest dem in on-grid renewables elsewhere, anoda twist on di idea of Bitcoin as a "virtual transmission line" (aka battery).

All dis energy for 7 transactions per second?
Di third attack go be say Bitcoin go move 7 transactions per second, and dat in a nutshell 4 system of dis kind even a few kilowatt hours go be wasted (curious, den, dat Attivissimo remembers dis after acceptin Bitcoin donations for years, on his blog, of dis big problem).
Quickly: dis numba unfortunately arises 4rm a profound misunderstandin of di real decouplin between di technological infrastructure called "blockchain" and di transfer of value named in Bitcoin.
It's frequent, but dat does not make am any less wrong.
Premise: "It feature!", i.e. Di size of di Blockchain is deliberately small.
Bein able 2 write on a blockchain must be a luxury, in orda 4 it to remain decentralized, so dat everyone, at any time and wit relatively little effort, can autonomously verify di correctness of transactions on di network, and not just di large bankin institutions.
However, now at every moment of di day, on cryptocurrency exchanges, on custodial platforms, by means of pegged tokens, on sidechains, on Lightin Network, by means of CFDs, Bitcoins are intermediated and exchanged, or contracts dat are traced back to deir value , wit varyin degrees of enforcement.
And dis happens through a number of transactions dat are much more dan 7 per second, believe me! To expect di opposite go be like demandin dat our mornin coffee paid 4 at di bar be recorded by all di backups of all di nodes of all di interbank circuits in di Eurozone.
So hw many transactions, really?
In general it is an unmeasurable numba, and it go be less and less, di estimates go be more and more heuristic, also thanks 2 privacy preservin platforms.
We go say, 2 make di general idea, dat every transaction dat takes place on an orderbook of any platform, wch represents Bitcoin, go only exist thanks 2 dj fact dat, underneath, dere is di Proof Of Work wch, if necessary, allows di settlement of a precise state of a chain of transactions of indefinite length (my token goes 2 you, who gives it 2 him, who gives it to di oda, who breaks it in three and gives it to di oda, who collects 8 ). Make you no expect all the coins you exchange to end up noted down somewhere?
Simply, people dey rely on intermediaries every day 2 exchange value in Bitcoin witout usin a blockchain directly.
Di global concept of decentralization is maintained, relocation increases wit confidence on di last mile (not always! LN!) but di connectin element always remains the last, only, true, mandatory, digital ledger in which the compensation movements.
Dere4, comparin the imaginary 7 transactions (which is number dat was good in 2013, today dere are many more even on-chain) 2 dj world's ability 2 transact Bitcoin, and linkin it 2 PoW, is a bit like pretendin dat dere are, at all times, a sufficient number of armored cars to move all di gold in all dj vaults of di world dat intend to exchange gold.

Of course, dat's not hw e go works.

Bitcoin na settlement system, not a payments aggregator

First thins first. Wat is Bitcoin, and wat is it not?

Bitcoin is a settlement system like FedWire. It is not a payments aggregator like Visa. I constantly see Bitcoin compared 2 Visa, MasterCard, or PayPal. Dis is di primary source of mathematical atrocities whereby Bitcoin's overall electricity cost is divided by its transactions and den compared to somethin e is not. Energy use per settlement transaction is a nonsensical metric by wch 2 judge Bitcoin's energy use.

Just like di 800,000 or so daily FedWire transactions are not a gud measure of di total amount 4 daily Dollar (USD) transactions, Bitcoin's 325,000 or so daily transactions are not a good measure 4 di total amount of daily bitcoin (BTC/XBT) transactions. Dis na because most bitcoin transactions no dey visible. Dey take place inside di payment aggregation systems of exchanges, on di Lightnin network, and yes, even inside of actual aggregators like PayPal, Square, or MasterCard. Only periodically are dey settled onto the Bitcoin blockchain as visible transactions.

Solutions wey dey like dis are referred to as network layerin. Dis is a tried and tested approach 2 separatin casual retail transactions 4rm heavier settlement transactions, and it is precisely hw we already do thins in di fiat monetary and payment systems. In such a system, di base layer, like FedWire (or Bitcoin), only acts as di final arbitrator of settlement transactions. Everythin else, wch is di vast majority of all transactions, happens in higher payment aggregation layers, wch are often entirely different systems.

In oda words, Bitcoin is not a competitor to Visa, MasterCard or Paypal. Instead, Bitcoin na independent monetary system dat aggregators can make use of.

Presentin Bitcoin's electricity consumption in terms of its daily numba of settlement transactions is a red herrin.