Peer-Reviewed Research Shows Bitcoin Mining Will Use 0.5% Of World’s Energy By End Of 2018
Yesterday, May 16, Economist Alex de Vries who published an article on “Bitcoin’s Growing Energy Problem,” told the Independent that Bitcoin (BTC) mining will use 0.5 percent of the world’s energy by 2018.
De Vries reasons that as the BTC network currently consumes around 2.55 GW of power and moves towards expending 7.67 GW later on (for reference, Ireland consumes 3.1 GW and Austria 8.2 GW), the network has a major issue, and it is developing quickly. However, he notes that solutions like the Lightning Network may reduce the situations.
Bitcoin mining requires vitality for playing out the calculations – hashes – that give miners Bitcoin rewards. In mid-February, it was reported that crypto mining in the nation of Iceland would consume more energy than family units in 2018. Some people see bitcoin mining a not a problem while others think it is very destructive, because of the need for Bitcoin in underbanked nations.
De Vries told the Independent that “half a percent is already quite shocking:”
“It’s an extreme difference compared to the regular financial system, and this increasing electricity demand is definitely not going to help us reach our climate goals.”
The scientific study broadly explains the distinctive kinds of Bitcoin miners and their individual energy utilization, taking note that “trying to measure the electricity consumed by the Bitcoin mining machines producing all those hash calculations remains a challenge to date.” De Vries utilizes Bitmain’s Antminers as an example to indicate how much energy each machine utilizes in its lifetime.
As De Vries’ investigation is the first time data on Bitcoin energy utilization has been checked, he hopes that his paper will start the discussion because he believes that the world needs “more scientific discussion on where this network is headed” as opposed to “back-of-the-envelope calculations,” he told the Independent.
Then again, the technology behind Bitcoin, blockchain, is being utilized to reduce ecological effect at times. This week, IBM reported a partnership with Veridium Labs with the plan of tokenizing carbon credits to enable companies to better track their carbon footprint through blockchain, possibly enabling them to reduce their carbon impact,
