Topic: Is bitcoin mining environmentally responsible? (Read 3205 times)

That's not really what I was trying to say. I was trying to look at the scenario where a typical person starts bitcoin mining. I know your average pc user doesn't have their PC turned on 24 hours per day but that may well become the case if they start mining.

So, is it not ok to have a computer on 24 hrs a day?

i think if u have a eco computer its safe 

Speak for yourself, not everyone is in the northern hemisphere
(Today is the first day all year I've worn a jumper)

I understand efficiency does not have an effect on energy usage, however the hashing efficiency makes a gigantic difference on your profit margin which is where the power matters.

But overall I think mining isn't necessarily "environmentally friendly" given that the difficulty is rising quite rapidly and people are burning their cards for longer times to generate the same profit, or lack thereof.

No it is not and so is everything else in this world

Because I have to pay for electricity (not few), I definitely consider powering a not-too-consuming device partly or fully by solar panels.

Of course, if you would otherwise use the excess heat produced by your rig, then the energy isn't wasted.   That might have been true for the last months, but not any longer 

But stop thinking about the hashing efficiency.  It has zero effect on the energy usage of the hashing fleet.  When someone finds a way to mine more efficiently, others are forced to do so as well to avoid earning less, but that's the point of this competition.  The energy usage is the number of BTC created per day * USDBTC.

Wonder if the cost to mine a dollar's worth of bitcoin is cheaper than the cost of printing a dollar

Mining compared to 2 years ago is more "efficient" given that the amount of transistors we fit on a die doubles almost every 18 months, decreasing power usage.

Think of it this way, Quad Core processors upon initial release were running on 125W to 150W (if I remember correctly), and now Intel and AMD are averaging 75W to 95W for twice the power. Now GPU's, given the way that they are developed (and are the primary tool of the current miner), can practically double their transistor count and cut their power usage in half within this time period.

My point in mentioning this (if it wasn't mentioned before, sorry I skimmed) is that even though miners are HEAVY users of power, the efficiency of all hardware is increasing while the performance is increasing as well. Seeing as it is clean, it's environmentally "friendly" if you're not considering every outside source of power production (.i.e. oil, coal, natural gas, etc.).

For many of you, like myself, have no need to turn on the heat during the winter because of all of the hot air my rig blows out!

I don't think you should feel bad.  When bitcoin uses too much energy, a more energy efficient version like ppcoin will outcompete bitcoins.

You are helping advance technology and the energy issue will be solved.  It just might be that it won't be called bitcoin, but it will be crypto currency.

Its fine.  Think about how much poewr is wasted on computers already.  Remember though, computers are getting better efficiency and so are these ASICS

Another thought, that often enters my mind, "What if by mining, at or above the cost of electricity, I'm just buying BTC at the cost of consumption?  Every other form of revenue has energy costs, why is media harshin' me?  Not trying to sound over-Libertarian posed, but I find myself hard-pressed to consider what my energy costs are, when driving to work and working on PCs anyways, as a systems analyst...

Um..   The exchange price draws and keeps miners in the game and it allows them to cash out and pay their electric bills.  But efficiency is the primary determining factor for how likely you are to receive any bitcoins per KWH of electricity consumed.  If you drive efficiency up by continuing to invest in better hardware (hello ASIC's) then you are more likely to earn enough bitcoins to make it worthwhile.

So true, exchange price is quite important.  But efficiency (defined as hash attempts per unit of electricity) is a serious factor if you plan to mine, as are difficulty rates, local utility rates, room temperature, etc... 

No the efficiency of mining does not influence the energy consumption at all.  It is the exchange price of BTC that drives energy consumption.

I think you're considering things in the right light... a lot of people consider only what they're doing and what media tells them vs. what is currently done to gain revenue.  

I totally understand the environmental impact of energy use, but right now, I'm waiting on my next work contract and sitting at home instead of using a car to travel 20+ miles round trip... would anyone here suggest that shutting down my rig would be beneficial to me financially?

The problem isn't bitcoin mining, the problem is our reluctance to switch to renewable energy sources because the dirty ones are so damn profitable. Ironically, mining btc probably has the same motivator.

Renewable energy ftw.

Is it environmentally responsible to have lights in your house?  Enjoy a movie in a theater? Drive your fancy new electric car?  Use any device which requires flowing electrons to operate it?  (Which is pretty much every device on earth.)

It's how one makes electrons flow that counts.  Bitcoin miners run on electricity, not coal, so if you then go make your electricity with coal, then I'd recommend you stop.

And lets not forget that the banking / finance sector uses mind boggling amounts of electricity for it to operate and keep all it's branches open, so let's keep it all in perspective now.  Why aren't we complaining here that Bank of America should set the air-conditioners in all of it's buildings 1 degree warmer?  Or upgrade 2 year old servers with new more efficient ones to reduce data center electric bills?  Or or or....  Any one of a thousand small savings could probably run all of the bitcoin miners on earth several several times over.  

Lastly, I've said elsewhere but bitcoin does spur efficiency since running costs come directly from mining profit unlike traditional banking which can dictate the amount of profit it wants to have from year to year.

So we can enjoy the cool breeze from our HVAC (or warmth from our mining rigs) and focus on smarter ways to power things.  As this isn't a green power forum we can just let the matter rest because as far as bitcoin is concerned i think the original article that spawned this discussion was FUD.

But hasn't bitcoin competition advanced the development of efficiencies in power consumption OR doesn't it encourage that? Even before I began mining, I considered how it might do that for both the end user of such hardware and for massive data centers.