Topic: Power consumption propaganda? - page 3. (Read 472 times)

Suffice it to say that each time a bitcoin bull market is starting to begin and price rises high, the media brings out the old "topics" such as "bitcoin consumes more power than blank", "blank [country] is banning bitcoin", "bitcoin is only used for blank [something illegal]", ... they dust them off and print a new article for the hundredth time.

Bitcoin power consumption criticism is like criticizing a plane for using hundreds of times more fuel than a small motor cycle!

This argument is pretty lame in a sense that if I say "Electric bulbs" are consuming more power than Australia, Argentina, Uganda, Ethiopia or name any country. Sounds stupid right? That's what it is,  if you combine the power consumption of all the electric bulbs in the world and you will be shocked how much energy "Electric bulbs" alone are consuming.  But this is not a valid comparison.

Now same thing applies to Bitcoin mining you can't compare the power consumption of world's bitcoin mining to the power consumed by one country.  and for the matter of fact consuming a lots on energy" does not make any thing bad by default. World is already changing we are moving to renewable energy sources, only thing which can be argued is how much fossil fuels being used or what is the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining. Yes currently it's estimated that 61% mining currently powered by fossil fuels (thanks to China).

Sixty-one per cent of Bitcoin mining last year was estimated to have been powered by fossil fuels, according to Cambridge University's Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.

But this is decreasing day by day and alternative and renewable energy are getting cheaper day by day. I think you are referring to this article https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-03-18/bitcoin-has-a-climate-problem/13210376, and answer to the your question is also there.

"The unique thing about energy-hungry things that use electricity is that those are the easiest things to decarbonize"

More I would say It's very stupid to compare Google or Microsoft to Bitcoin mining. Microsoft is consuming 9TWh because they only counted their owned resources only. I can argue that all the computers, servers and laptop those are running Windows or any of Microsoft software should be counted to Microsoft energy consumption then tell me how much energy Microsoft is consuming.

By the way energy consumption is actually a sing of a advancement in civilization. It has been theorized that human civilizations will constantly increase their demand for energy and there would come a time when its demand will be same as the total energy output of the Sun and we will be building Dyson sphere so one would argue Bitcoin mining consuming more energy :p

I think it's just either propaganda, or just mere ignorance/narrow-mindedness — whereas the latter is a bit more likely in my opinion.

Not only Bill Gates or journalists, but people in general, love hating on Bitcoin because they missed out or they currently don't see the point of it. Crap like Netflix, TikTok, and gaming consoles, which are mostly just entertainment platforms to start with, use a crap ton of energy as well and no almost one complains about them. And yet here we are with Bitcoin, where we are giving a monetary tool for people to use worldwide, and yet they think that it's a total waste of energy. It's just stupid.

Would be interested to hear what the point of view is on a recent increase in press statements as follows: ‘Bitcoin may soon consume more power than Australia’— almost 10 times more than Google, Microsoft and Facebook combined.
Is there anything behind this or is it just another angle of attack against bitcoin prompted by remarks by Bill Gates?.....is it even possible to calculate consumption in this way?