The environmental impact of Bitcoin Proof of Work.

I was dismayed to read that Bitcoin proof of work consensus, the decentralized network of computers confirming transactions and validating the accuracy of the Bitcoin ledger consume a lot of energy. I was more concerned when I learned that all the Bitcoin miners in the world put together actually consume more energy then some entire countries. However, I also think that all facts must be evaluated in their proper context.

If I tell you of a guy who sneaks into homes on Christmas eve carrying a large bag of valuables, who arrives and leaves without being detected, you might automatically think he or she was a burglar or thief. But if I told you this fellow was Santa Claus, and he was actually leaving things of value, instead of taking them, you would have proper context to make a decision about whether he was bad or good.

It is with this in mind that I realized that perhaps I didn’t possess the proper context to evaluate whether Bitcoin was bad or good based on only one set of facts and no context. So, I researched this subject more.

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Bitcoin environmentally friendly or unfriendly

Context is everything

I began my investigation by starting with the often-quoted statement that Bitcoin uses more electricity then the entire country of Argentina. I researched this statement and found this statement to be supported by the references. So just like Santa Claus was indeed seen entering and leaving peoples homes with a big bag of stuff on his shoulder, Bitcoin uses a lot of electricity. But just like the in the case of Santa Claus I wanted to find out more; I wanted to collect facts and understand the context.

For example this chart I found in a BBC article entitled Bitcoin uses more electricity than Argentina ref This is a provocative title for sure and the references cited supported this claim.

The top 30 consumers of electricity on the planet.

The energy consumption of the top energy consuming countries in the world:

China
USA
India
Japan
Russia
Germany
Canada
Brazil
South Korea
France
United Kingdom
Saudi Arabia
Italy
Mexico
Spain
Taiwan
Iran
Turkey
Australia
Indonesia
South Africa
Thailand
Egypt
Vietnam
Malaysia
Sweden
Ukraine
Norway
And …Bitcoin at #29
Followed by Argentina at #30

I ask that everyone who considers Bitcoin to be an enemy of the environment to consider a few important facts.

The global annual energy consumption of Bitcoin is 188 tetrawatts.
This places it 29th on the list of the top 30 energy consuming nations.

However,…

201 tetrawatts is the total annual energy consumed by Christmas lights in the USA alone.
6,800 tetrawatts, is the total amount of energy wasted by renewable energy producers each year, due to inadequate battery storage capacity and poor matching of production with demand in the USA alone.

Consider that…

No one lobbies against Christmas Lights to save the environment!
No one lobbies against renewable energy to save the environment!

Why? because numbers alone are insufficient to condemn things,

… there are other factors in deciding whether something is bad or good.

Consider this about Bitcoin’s renewable energy use

Remember that Renewable Energy Producers waste 6800 tetrawatts of energy per year?
Bitcoin is using some of that lost energy
Bitcoin miners now use renewable energy for 57.1 % of its total energy consumption.
In the USA the country wide use of renewable energy sits at 37% of all energy consumed. So by that measure alone Bitcoin is doing better than the entire USA, the second largest energy consumer on the planet.

Let us review: Bitcoin is the biggest customer for renewable energy on the planet

Bitcoin uses 188 tetrabites per year
Bitcoin uses 57% renewable energy
Bitcoin miners run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
Bitcoin miners pay there electricity bills.
Now consider this...

Bitcoin provides the two biggest things to the renewable energy industry that they need:

Steady predictable energy usage spread out equally over the day.
Reliable payment for services.

Bitcoin may actually be the savior of the renewable energy industry by consuming the electricity produced by renewable energy sources in a manner ideal for the companies and paying for it.

Therefore Bitcoin may actually be Good for the environment, by saving the renewable energy sector.

But wait, there are more ways that Bitcoin may actually be good for the environment.

Did you know that oil production results in the wasting of energy through burning of natural gas in many parts of the world, including the USA? Yes ethane gas is nearly always found with petroleum, but it takes extra and expensive energy to capture it and then it’s expensive and hazardous to truck someone where it can be packaged for sale to consumers. So most oil well drillers just burn it. And while natural gas does create thick black smoke and soot when it’s burned, the end product is green house gases, which many scientist feel are bad for our environment.
Did you know that this energy from natural gas is one of the cleanest and most ecologically friendly forms of energy other than renewables?
Did you know that there are Bitcoin Mining companies which developed natural gas scavengers, which collect this gas, and burn it for energy to power Bitcoin miners, and make money?
So those miners are consuming energy which otherwise would be wasted, so those miners are not contributing to green house gases, they are reducing green house gases by using that energy, instead of other energy sources, which would generate additional green house gases.
So in this case, the Bitcoin miners are again good for the environment!
Plus, the miners are helping the companies make a profit, so they are protecting jobs and contributing to the local economy where ever they are deployed.
‘These are just a few examples of the innovative ways Bitcoin Mining is using energy which would otherwise be wasted.

I think it’s fair to say that numbers alone don’t tell the whole story.

What do you think?
Perhaps Bitcoin isn’t the environmental villain it’s accused of being?
Perhaps the world is not as simple as people would like you to believe?
Perhaps doing your own research into a topic can indeed lead you to a completely different conclusion then Bitcoin is all bad, or Bitcoin is all good.
Maybe Bitcoin is like everything else in the world a little bit of both?
Do you know of any other ways Bitcoin effects the environment?

The end.. for now.. @shortsegments