By operating during off-peak hours, when energy demand is lower, Bitcoin miners could potentially reduce 4.4 million tons of CO2 emissions annually.
“Bitcoin miners often tout their ability to turn their machines off whenever electrical grids are stressed, but until now, the extent of miner flexibility has not been independently substantiated,” the report’s authors wrote. “We gathered detailed power usage data from 10 bitcoin mining companies in the U.S. and Canada and found that they curtailed power usage between 5% and 31% of the time.”