Does decentralized money have a right to social resources? In the July edition of the Kryptokompass we address the debate about BTC electricity consumption. How much electricity does Bitcoin really use? What about the energy mix and how can Bitcoiners work for a greener Bitcoin?
Bitcoin mining tension: highly efficient decentralized consensus machine or the greatest waste of energy in living memory? The controversy surrounding Bitcoin mining has been on everyone’s lips since Tesla stopped accepting Bitcoin; the hardened fronts make a sober dialogue hardly possible. But that’s exactly what would be so important in the age of man-made climate change: An honest, fact-based debate about the weal and woe of the Proof of Work Mining in the Bitcoin network.
So let’s try it. In the current July issue of the Kryptokompass, we address the issue of the environmental balance of mining. What is the study situation on CO₂ emissions? What is behind the ominous term Proof of Work Mining and what does it mean for network security? How much electricity Bitcoin really uses and what that has to do with clothes dryers and Christmas lights.
“Climate killer Bitcoin: The energy consumption in a fact check” is the title story of the July issue of the Kryptokompass, in which we collect what the increasingly well-founded study situation has to offer.
Did you know, for example, that the electricity that American electrical appliances use in standby mode would be enough to run the Bitcoin network for about 2.3 years?
Bitcoiners are also in demand
We also show real possibilities to offset your own coins through classic carbon offsetting. Because we are of the opinion that Bitcoiners do not have to sit idly at the edge of the page, but can actively campaign for a greener Bitcoin.
The fact that mining is also an important consumer of excess electricity is also often overlooked in the debate. Because Bitcoin mines inevitably settle in regions where electricity is cheap; just when the supply exceeds the demand. And so the Proof of Work Mining can – contrary to any superficial intuition – even serve as a driver for the expansion of renewable energies. Power plants could, for example, pass voltage peaks to surrounding mining farms and would no longer have to conduct excess electricity into the ground. With the knowledge of the ultimate buyer, it is even conceivable that, for example, solar systems are planned with more capacity than is absolutely necessary. So in the end everyone benefits: Bitcoin, the power plant operators: inside as well as people and nature.
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With this in mind: BTC-ECHO wishes you lots of fun reading!