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The Energy Cost of Cryptocurrencywww.energystar.gov/products/data_center_equipment/cryptocurrency
354 sats \ 22 comments \ @Bell_curve 31 Dec 2024 bitcoin_Mining
A friend sent this to me. I am not trying to spread fud. He has concerns about mining and energy scarcity.
Energy star is probably spreading fud but it’s probably because of ignorance or lack of understanding.
From the article: Buildings used to house cryptocurrency mining can create a massive strain on local electricity grids, with a single crypto transaction consuming more energy than that required to power 6 houses for a day in the U.S. The estimated global annual energy consumption of the current cryptocurrency market is over 68 TWh, equivalent to more than 19 coal fired power plants operating continuously. Due to the technical nature of blockchain, this number is projected to grow to 100 TWh annually.
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353 sats \ 5 replies \ @alt 31 Dec 2024
https://endthefud.org/energy
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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Shugard 31 Dec 2024
That's an awesome source! Thank you!
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 31 Dec 2024
I see a lot of Nic Carter citations
Should we be worried or ignore?
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11 sats \ 2 replies \ @alt 31 Dec 2024
I'm OOTL, what's the concern r.e. Nic Carter? I don't know who he is.
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10 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve OP 31 Dec 2024
https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2022/12/05/nic-carter-most-influential-2022
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32 sats \ 0 replies \ @alt 31 Dec 2024
Didn't know that about Nic. I think it's not really a problem though, as with all things there's nuance and grey areas. Just because he's an advocate of other block chains doesn't invalidate the older articles about Bitcoin.
We shouldn't blindly trust articles by maxis, nor should we blindly discount articles by shitcoiners. We should judge them case-by-case on their own merits.
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52 sats \ 0 replies \ @Skipper 31 Dec 2024
the source is literally a gov site with anti PoW propaganda.
NEXT...
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22 sats \ 0 replies \ @yoshi 31 Dec 2024
Energy scarcity? That’s a central planning myth. Energy can be and should be abundant.
Bitcoin incentivises creating and harnessing more energy and that will only bring about human flourishing.
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33 sats \ 6 replies \ @kepford 31 Dec 2024
There is zero issue with energy usage. It's about whether you believe bitcoin is a worth while project. Bitcoin is energy usage is dwarfed by things like refrigeration. Why aren't people up in arms about refrigeration? They see the value. I think Facebook and most of the gaming industry is a waste of energy but that's just an opinion. I have no right to decide how anyone besides myself uses energy. Those that want to tell others what usage of energy is acceptable are promoting the enslavement of humanty through totalitarianism.
That might sound radical but if you stop and think about it is completely logical and rational.
Yeah, this is FUD.
Ask them if they are concerned about AI energy usage.
Also, what energy scarcity? As demand grows supply grows. As more AI server farms are planned we will see more clean power generation. Same goes for bitcoin. We are never gonna run out of energy. It's a lie I have heard since the 80s. Peak oil is one version of this. It's a joke.
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47 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 31 Dec 2024
Good points
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12 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 31 Dec 2024
Another consideration is that bitcoin mining ops economically are incentivized to seek power sources that are not being fully unitized. Cheap power that is often wasted. Few understand that a significant amount of electricity is lost in transmission and as a power consumer that can easily power up and down mining ops are great balancers for grid operations.
This is true is grids with solar and wind where production and consumption are often the inverse of each other. Power producers will often make agreements with mining operations that provide more stability in demand and therefore encourage expansion of power generation.
In the current climate people are fed a scarcity mindset around energy but enegy abundance is directly connected with human flourishing.
In Africa mining operators are helping expand power access to areas that are very dark. They have a chicken egg problem where people don't have enough devices to consume power (Refrigerators, lights, AC) and if they were to buy them power would not be available. Power producers lack the demand for power to justify expanding power generation. Mining ops can provide demand and the people then have infra for power they would not otherwise have.
Another example of mining finding standed or wasted energy are stranded natural gas wells. These wells have to be burned off and wasted to avoid poluting the air. Mining ops have colocated with these wells using this natgas to generators that power mining rigs.
I have yet to hear a fair argument against bitcoin related to energy. Those making arguements are either misinformed or just hate it.
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62 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 31 Dec 2024
Very true
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0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 15h
How can we modernize or expand our energy infrastructure to minimize 'wasted' energy or utilize as much as possible 'surplus' energy from solar, wind and stranded natural gas wells?
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22 sats \ 1 reply \ @kepford 12h
Think about it. It's already happening. More demand that economically worth while. Reduce regulations and wait for the nuclear fearing boomers to die off.
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35 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 12h
Nuclear efficiency
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12 sats \ 0 replies \ @aljaz 31 Dec 2024
the premise of using energy is bad is so incredibly misguided that anything downstream of that argument cannot be taken seriously.
Remove regulation and allow free markets and see how much energy problem the world has.
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @Manikese 31 Dec 2024
Honestly, this is really dumb. A bitcoin network can run with a small, energy efficient miner and an energy efficient node. It doesn’t “need” all that mining power. It is by choice that people run a miner with great processing power and/or many of them.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 1 Jan
Thanks everyone for your feedback
Happy New Year 🎆
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jgbtc 31 Dec 2024
If environmentalists hate oil so much, you think they'd be more enthusiastic about the replacement for the petrodollar.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @clr 31 Dec 2024
Not endorsing wokepedia, but:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_usage_of_the_United_States_military
Safekeeping the ledger of humanity is well worth the energy and capital cost of mining, imo. All that without any human being killed. But why should anybody say which energy uses are "good" and which ones are "wasteful"?
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @0245bdaef2 31 Dec 2024
https://fountain.fm/clip/0XwG84eMjq90GRXel1GW
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve OP 31 Dec 2024
I'm not sure if Neil Degrass Tyson is a reliable source for energy and bitcoin mining
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