Does cryptocurrency mining produce more pollution?

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Quote from: PotterMiner777 on November 26, 2019, 12:36:08 AM

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

some mining company is starting to use renewal like solar, wind and many more
it might add pollution due to a large amount of electricity consumption
but like any other establishment that uses electricity it just same in mining, it is just additional
maybe the best solution is to donate some dollars for trees when price of bitcoin rise and after we earn some profit to lessen pollution.

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Quote from: tippytoes on November 26, 2019, 06:25:46 PM

Everything that we do somehow contribute to pollution so bitcoin mining should not be given an isolated case. Banks and other commercial institutions largely contribute to this pollution issue as well. But I believe with crypto usage, we somehow reduce the pollution that it create along the way. Just take for example, if you want to convert your crypto to fiat, you only need few transactions and you're good to go. Less paper trail, less docs, less incurred waste, less time consumed. So that alone will give you an idea how crypto can reduce the waste that we are generating by dealing with crypto. And with the miners on the works, we will incur even less time for our crypto transactions. Less energy is being utilized eventually.

Which is why most bank statements are now digitalised. There is no doubt that there are various tangible advantages that banks have over Bitcoin but with respect to the transaction volume verses the amount of pollution produced, traditional methods still champions crypto in this aspect.

Quote from: hello_good_sir on November 26, 2019, 07:36:55 PM

Isn't this the same issue with a lot of computers? There are actually a lot of people who run computer recycling plants, and most of it comes down to plastic, and that's the main problem with computers and other stuff since it's extremely hard to dispose of them.

Not exactly. R-waste is a big problem in general but the fact that ASICs can only do one task makes it extremely inflexible and makes them obsolete faster. Farm's do not usually try to recycle them due to their high cost.

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Quote from: PotterMiner777 on November 26, 2019, 12:36:08 AM

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

If you wanna look at it from an ecological perspective, the percentage of carbon dioxide produced by the power used by bitcoin miners around the world is nearly insignificant compared to what other day to day lives activities produce, so at least we don't have to worry about that now, besides the number of people who are mining bitcoin on a large scale bases is not that high so that it significant, and also many mining companies have started to utilize solar and other clean power methods for their mining, not because they care about the environment but it is profitable on the long term.

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Quote from: ChrisPop on November 27, 2019, 04:20:30 AM

As far as I have read crypto mining makes its "contribution" to the carbon footprint of humanity on the planet, but many of the farms out there mostly use green energy because it's more cost effective in some cases and they also protect the environment. But the ones who largely use energy from fossil combustibles should offset their carbon footprint by buying international carbon credits. I believe Zero Carbon Project offer a service like that where you can buy credits with BTC or something like that.

Only a few use green energy, most farms use electricity from power plants, even require the level of continuous power supply and optimization as possible to achieve the best results in mining and this is certainly a part of environmental pollution but the ratio is probably negligible compared to the rest of the world. Because in modern life, industries, electricity and demand are too high in life, all of which lead to environmental pollution, Bitcoin and crypto mining more or less, the level of pollution remains the same, can not change more actively.

JohnSegWick

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Mining crypto is not a "mandatory" activity. People do it because profits. They will tend to go with the most hash power for the least amount of electricity used, lowest cost, and possibly the greenest renewable type (if it also costs less).

Compared to fiat institutions that need large buildings, ... I'd say the carbon footprint of bitcoin (and all other crypto) mining is relatively smaller.

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With every halving the power consumption more or less halves also as the weakest miners have to shut down for economic reasons.

Do troll posts on the internet produce a lot pollution?

Eclipse26

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We cannot erase the fact that bitcoin mining really consumes a lot of electricity. And obviously, it affects our environment. Yes, bitcoin mining contributes a portion regarding pollution and energy consumption. It's normal for every household to consume electricity, especially big businesses who also consume a lot of electricity every day. It's already a part of them to function every day. Same goes for mining bitcoin, it is necessary. Though others are looking for an alternative to reduce energy consumption.

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I don't think crypto mining produce more pollution in the environment. It's always up to the miner and what kind of 1st energy they're using. I meant mining isn't too profitable where the electricity is too expensive like in some countries, and it's really poluate when we're using fossil fuel as a source of electrical energy. In the other part, Miners can also use renewable energy which it have not any impact of pollution to the environment as well as unlimited but it requires an expensive diapositive to get it. Like solar energy require PV systems or Wind energy require Aerogenerators etc..

shoreno

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this section your posting is for bitcoin discusion but i can see that you are talking about mining . i think this thread fits better on the mining board located on here >>> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=14.0 . now to the question that if cryptocurrency mining produce more pollution? i would say no . no because mining can be done on portable devices like phone and laptop or on mid heavy devices like pc but all of these are indorse and cant contribute to the existing polution that we experience right now .

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Quote from: Asmonist on November 27, 2019, 08:51:26 AM

I think every businesses now uses electric energy. Its so hard to live now without electricity. And the other addition is the internet connection. Its not necessity for others but mostly all are dependent of these two. Aside from the basic needs food, shelter and clothing. Today, it needs the two (electricity and internet) to earn living for us to sustain and pay our bills. Well, crypto currency mining is just part of the many who uses electric energy. But for me, pollution is something more serious in seas and other natural resources.

Not only mining causes pollution, but yes, it is also one of the contributors of pollution, and cleaning pollution should be everyone's responsibility not only me, not only you but we should be all take responsibility of it as our children and grandchildren will suffer if we will not take care of our surroundings, and remember that nowadays the resources are becoming too expensive because of lots of demand but the supply is decreasing.

Asmonist

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I think every businesses now uses electric energy. Its so hard to live now without electricity. And the other addition is the internet connection. Its not necessity for others but mostly all are dependent of these two. Aside from the basic needs food, shelter and clothing. Today, it needs the two (electricity and internet) to earn living for us to sustain and pay our bills. Well, crypto currency mining is just part of the many who uses electric energy. But for me, pollution is something more serious in seas and other natural resources.

Dart18

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It does need a lot of electricity but who doesn't?
We are part of that pollution.
How about A/C the whole day? Heaters? Those kind of electric machines does need a lot of electricity to and bitcoin mining is not even near it.
Have you also thought about infrastructure which is consuming electricity 24/7?

Will there be a big change in our environment if the mining of bitcoin is suddenly stopped? I don't think so. It will be worst in the future and not just because of mining bitcoin. Us!

ChrisPop

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As far as I have read crypto mining makes its "contribution" to the carbon footprint of humanity on the planet, but many of the farms out there mostly use green energy because it's more cost effective in some cases and they also protect the environment. But the ones who largely use energy from fossil combustibles should offset their carbon footprint by buying international carbon credits. I believe Zero Carbon Project offer a service like that where you can buy credits with BTC or something like that.

o_e_l_e_o

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Quote from: Slow death on November 26, 2019, 01:42:43 PM

the cost of electricity will be much higher 10 years from now

That is far from a given. Renewable sources are rapidly expanding, which will bring the cost of electricty down in the long term. Many countries are passing laws requiring all new buildings to have solar panels or other ways of producing green energy. If a mining farm is powered directly form solar panels or similar, then the price of electricty is irrelevant since the miner is producing their own.

Quote from: ?? on ??

Bitcoin Miners Draw more and more power while not increasing function or transaction capacity of bitcoin at all.

A higher hashrate confers more security on the bitcoin network.

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Quote from: ampu on November 27, 2019, 02:48:22 AM

I do not think it is polluted because currently the countries participating in crypto mining have been proactive in energy resources for crypto mining. Mining cryptocurrencies with computer power consumes a lot of electrical energy and emits a lot of heat into the environment, but not much compared to engines of vehicles or factories. Crypto mining generates significant profits. Bitcoin mining companies have used solar energy, wind power ... to replace electricity from hydroelectricity. In addition, the amount of heat they treat very well does not cause heat to affect the environment. It is unreasonable to consider Bitcoin mining to adversely affect the environment as the level of impact is very low.

It is not the hydroelectricity that causes more pollution to the environment but the people who are utilizing the coal to produce electricity If we are to burn fossil fuels, it will produce gasses that are harmful to our environment, and the solution is to use solar, wind and hydroelectric power plan some uses turbines, to generate electricity. But the issue is that, producing electricity is not enough with these resources, they still utilize coals. In cryptocurrency mining facilities, most aren't having their own generating electricity infrastructure, they are still paying electricity to local companies. That is why, we cannot blame cryptocurrency minings.

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Quote from: PotterMiner777 on November 26, 2019, 12:36:08 AM

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

Here you need to make decisions that can neutralize the harmful effects of electricity. This is already a worldwide problem, mining is only a way of consuming electricity.

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Quote from: PotterMiner777 on November 26, 2019, 12:36:08 AM

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

now bitcoin or other cryptocurrency miners continue to grow which makes it possible to provide higher electricity, we are certainly very worried that there will be a world electricity crisis, and of course cryptocurrency mining can cause environmental damage (pollution) the greenhouse effect, imagine if in the future miners bitcoin in the future will establish a bigger company that needs more electricity.

so the miners now really need a solution to tackle world pollution even further.

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I do not think it is polluted because currently the countries participating in crypto mining have been proactive in energy resources for crypto mining. Mining cryptocurrencies with computer power consumes a lot of electrical energy and emits a lot of heat into the environment, but not much compared to engines of vehicles or factories. Crypto mining generates significant profits. Bitcoin mining companies have used solar energy, wind power ... to replace electricity from hydroelectricity. In addition, the amount of heat they treat very well does not cause heat to affect the environment. It is unreasonable to consider Bitcoin mining to adversely affect the environment as the level of impact is very low.

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Quote from: PotterMiner777 on November 26, 2019, 12:36:08 AM

Ever since cryptocurrency has existed people have started to mine it using their PCs or Miners’ GPUs. Considering that cryptocurrency mining consumes a lot of electricity because of it using a lot of processing power, does it really cause a large ecological impact on the world?

Every time I see mining operations around the world, there are multiple miners in one place ranging from dozens to even hundreds in for those who can afford a lot of miners. That got me thinking that since there are a lot of GPUs running at once then it must use a lot of electricity which means that power plants, as a result, will need to generate more electricity which will lead to more pollution.

Is the carbon footprint of these mining operations large enough to make a large impact on the world or it doesn’t really cause a lot of pollution in the long run.
What do you guys think and are there any greener solutions for mining cryptocurrencies?

Mining is harmful to the environment, it is inevitable. However, there are many similar things in the world that consume electricity.

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In one way it consumes more electricity for the entire network function without flaw. The electricity consumed and the output it provides is more effective compared with the usage of electricity consumed on various other needs to perform similar task. The task can be of transactions, other data storage and so on.

When it comes to pollution what bitcoin mining causes is very simple, maybe in future when there is mass usage compared to the present there might be drastic increase. Most of the mining firms are kept in location where there is not much of energy required to provide cooling. This way heat too isn't left to the environment, so the global pollution is rising of various other factors and not because of mining.

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