Topic: Power Usage for Bitcoin (Read 1251 times)
I believe that the electricity consumption will stagnate due to the efficiency in the equipment. The consumption of bitcoin is criticized because there are many interests in altcoins proof of stake.
I really think that there is a future for Bitcoin except that I fear it may crash because of the ever increasing need for power to keep the blockchain going. Is my fear justified?
I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
Simple for me. If you dont fear the crash then you will not be a good investor or even a trader.
There should always be a doubt with something specially to a new invesment.
That is telling yourself you are wise but you just dont feel it.
Regarding the power usage I think I have read something about natural energy which will provide for the high power needed.
Every now and then the equipment manufacturers are coming out with better models of their equipment for high efficiency low power consumption so in fully aware of your plight.
I can agree that power usage for bitcoin network will be higher, but that's because there will be more transaction. Furthermore, the power usage will be more efficient since technology will keep improving over time 
So i think there's nothing to be feared.
So i think there's nothing to be feared.
Nothing to do with the number of transactions.
Power consumption will always depend on the daily miners revenue (reard plus fee) / price of kw.
The blockage miners will never consume more power than they could buy with the mining revenue.
Many miners occur next to hydroelectric power plants with reserves, and many are power generators for other reserves. Even later diesel will be cheap and will expand worldwide.
Would that be a problem to all of you ?
Would that be a problem to all of you ?
Oh , you just solved one of the world problem.
If miners use electricity produced by the dams, don't you thing that they are using somebody else share?
If we all could use hydro power and pay .1 cents for one kw a lot of this world problems would be already solved.
The power needed to run Bitcoin, does not compare to the total amount needed to run the Fiat banking system. You have to think of all the
appliances in and around a bank that are necessary to run it, for example : Air conditioning / ATM's / computers / CCTV systems / Vaults and
all the lights in these buildings... and we have not even started on the amount of electricity that are needed to manufacture coins and to print
money.
appliances in and around a bank that are necessary to run it, for example : Air conditioning / ATM's / computers / CCTV systems / Vaults and
all the lights in these buildings... and we have not even started on the amount of electricity that are needed to manufacture coins and to print
money.
I'm pretty sure that localbitcoins, xapo, blockchain.info are not using even one watt of electricity.
Or the 3000 bitcoin atms.
Or the computers that are powered up when you make a payment.
I really think that there is a future for Bitcoin except that I fear it may crash because of the ever increasing need for power to keep the blockchain going. Is my fear justified?
I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
May be it will be issue later on and with increasing mining difficulty many miners with expensive electricity have to leave bitcoin mining so the only one with very cheap or free electricity can continue mining. Although Bitcoin may not loss its charms just because of high power usage. I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
If this continues process of bitcoins will remain then in future it power will increase rapidly worldwide.
Power and internet access is a major requirement for bitcoin and other digital currency to continue service for a longer time. Different countries have different electricity consumption charge as well varying amount of power generation. So Countries have got several alternate plans to increase power generation and make system effective by working on minimal power consumption.
I really think that there is a future for Bitcoin except that I fear it may crash because of the ever increasing need for power to keep the blockchain going. Is my fear justified?
I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
I am an 81 year old guy who is trying to understand this thing.
Simple for me. If you dont fear the crash then you will not be a good investor or even a trader.
There should always be a doubt with something specially to a new invesment.
That is telling yourself you are wise but you just dont feel it.
Regarding the power usage I think I have read something about natural energy which will provide for the high power needed.
@OP: Your assumption is incorrect - there is no minimum power needed to "keep going" the blockchain. What's important is the cost of the power - the more it costs, the more difficult it is to attack the network.
The estimation is not bad, but probably a bit outdated (the article is from October 2016). I want to link here the study I consider the best one about this topic:
Electricity consumption of Bitcoin: a market-based and technical analysis.
His estimation is about 500 MW:
The study is from March 2017, so it is well possible consumption being a little bit higher now, but not much.
Here the author has opened a topic in the Development & Technical Discussion forum.
Power usage is smaller than you might think. There's an interesting article from last year that you should take a look at. https://www.thebalance.com/how-much-power-does-the-bitcoin-network-use-391280 At this rate, the bitcoin network runs at 342934450 watts, which equates to around 343 megawatts.
The estimation is not bad, but probably a bit outdated (the article is from October 2016). I want to link here the study I consider the best one about this topic:
Electricity consumption of Bitcoin: a market-based and technical analysis.
His estimation is about 500 MW:
Code:
Lower bound Best guess Upper bound
325 MW 470-540 MW 774 MW
325 MW 470-540 MW 774 MW
The study is from March 2017, so it is well possible consumption being a little bit higher now, but not much.
Here the author has opened a topic in the Development & Technical Discussion forum.
As long as there is a target market and customers who still need bitcoin,
it will still be a fixed business land.
it will still be a fixed business land.
Many miners occur next to hydroelectric power plants with reserves, and many are power generators for other reserves. Even later diesel will be cheap and will expand worldwide.
Would that be a problem to all of you ?
Would that be a problem to all of you ?
I understand your concern about the waste of energy power, I guess that in future these problems will be solved, maybe implementing new technologies. Respect to the price, you wouldn't worry because with the shortage of Bitcoin its price will up
Many mining data centers in China are actually using cheap hydroelectric power. Also, many people working on renewable energy for bitcoin mining so we shouldn't afraid of the future. I guess the amount of energy is high but still too tiny to contribute to the global warming and CO2 footprint.
Many electricity utilities in the united states have stopped paying home owners $$ for installing solar panels on their homes which generate more power than they consume, leaving the electrical grid with a surplus of electricity.
As far as the united states goes, there already is too large a surplus of electricity on the grid. There are too many power plants generating power.
Electrical consumption isn't likely to be an issue for a long time. There's zero reason to be concerned with electrical use with so many switching to off grid/grid tied solar or wind power solutions.
As far as the united states goes, there already is too large a surplus of electricity on the grid. There are too many power plants generating power.
Electrical consumption isn't likely to be an issue for a long time. There's zero reason to be concerned with electrical use with so many switching to off grid/grid tied solar or wind power solutions.
Thanks for all the great comments. My belief that blockchain technology will save humanity is reinforced.
Note: the amount of power dedicated to the network is not about how much is needed or how many transactions are sent, it's about how much profit miners can get from the block reward and from transaction fees. Therefore the power used could actually go down in the long term.The technology also moves forward and we don't need the same electrical power to get x times the hash. The hash power and electricity don't rise in proportion. An example of how the hash power increased 6 times, but the power consumption not even 2 times is a comparison between two antminers:
Antminer S1 180 Gh/s = 360W
AntMiner S5 - 1155Gh/s =600W
I really think that there is a future for Bitcoin except that I fear it may crash because of the ever increasing need for power to keep the blockchain going. Is my fear justified?
others ALTS need more power and more STORAGE to evolve with dramatic usage (like Bitcoin now).
so Bitcoin is the more experimented of all others crypto-currency.
you can store a full node without problem.
now.
with 350 000 transactions per day.
developpers are Chief ... after all.
chief evolve with the demand.
Thanks for all the great comments. My belief that blockchain technology will save humanity is reinforced.
Note: the amount of power dedicated to the network is not about how much is needed or how many transactions are sent, it's about how much profit miners can get from the block reward and from transaction fees. Therefore the power used could actually go down in the long term.
POS sues a fraction of the electricity as bitcoin which is one of the reasons it is so popular. That said as long as there is profit in bitcoin the cost of electricity does not matter.
Thanks for all the great comments. My belief that blockchain technology will save humanity is reinforced.
No need to worry. The network is spread around the world, so the typical usage increase per country for mining is not going to exceed 0.1%
Imagine that a typical facebook or google server room requires more power than a big Bitcoin mine, and nobody goes around saying that google is wasting our power and should shut down.
Imagine that a typical facebook or google server room requires more power than a big Bitcoin mine, and nobody goes around saying that google is wasting our power and should shut down.
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