What is a cryptocurrency?
One of the first companies to build a Bitcoin mine in Iceland was Genesis Mining in 2013. Its founders include Philip Salter, who is now chief technical officer of affiliate Genesis Digital Assets and can sum up the island nation s advantages in one line. There are no political or geopolitical risks, the infrastructure is very reliable and the electricity is sustainable and incredibly cheap, he told DW.
Iceland is reaching its limits
Meanwhile, however, the country s generation capacity is reaching its limits: There could be very little excess energy in 2021 and 2022, Landsvirkjun CEO Hordur Arnarson told Bloomberg recently. Therefore, the cost advantage of Iceland s electricity is on the line.
How Bitcoin trade is hurting climate change mitigation
Summary
To keep the Bitcoin blockchain up and constantly running, it requires enormous computing power, consuming huge amounts of hydroelectricity in the process.
Global Bitcoin mining and trade consumes 121.36 terawatt-hours (tWh) of electric energy per year, which is more than 15 times the electric power consumed by Kenya annually (7.86 tWh).
Thursday April 22 2021
Summary
To keep the Bitcoin blockchain up and constantly running, it requires enormous computing power, consuming huge amounts of hydroelectricity in the process.
Global Bitcoin mining and trade consumes 121.36 terawatt-hours (tWh) of electric energy per year, which is more than 15 times the electric power consumed by Kenya annually (7.86 tWh).
Analysis
The debate around the environmental impact of the Bitcoin mining ecosystem is heating up once again as academics have provided a fresh dose of perspective on the subject. In an opinion piece written by Noah Smith, a former assistant finance professor turned columnist, took aim at the Bitcoin (BTC) mining industry in March, suggesting that the constantly growing energy consumption of the network is simply unsustainable. Smithâs belief is that more countries will clamp down on Bitcoin mining as they use more power, given that the increasing price of BTC is always matched by rising hash rates.
While Coin Metrics founder Nic Carter has rebutted some of the points raised in Smithâs column, there still seems to be divided opinion around the amount of energy that Bitcoin mining draws, the sources of this energy and the carbon footprint that the industry has on the planet.
China’s lucrative bitcoin mines risk derailing climate goals
By
AFP | 8 April, 2021
China’s electricity-hungry bitcoin mines that power nearly 80% of the global trade in cryptocurrencies, risk undercutting the country’s climate goals, according to a study in the journal
Nature this week.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are minted by solving puzzles using powerful computers that consume enormous amounts of electricity – much of it produced by coal plants. The
Nature study found that if left unchecked, China’s bitcoin mines will generate 130.50 million metric tons of carbon emissions by 2024 – close to the annual greenhouse gas emissions from an entire country like Italy or oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
China s electricity-guzzling Bitcoin mines, which power nearly 80 per cent of the world s cryptocurrency trade, could undermine the country s climate goals, according to a study published on Tuesday in the scientific journal Nature.
While the terminology cunjures up images of digging up precious minerals from a hole in the ground, mines from which Bitcoins are extracted are in fact sites full of microprocessors running to perform mathematical calculations.
These computers, which are the source of Bitcoins, consume huge amounts of electricity, some of it originating in one of more than a thousand coal-fired power plants across China.
According to the Nature study, if left unchecked, China s Bitcoin mines will produce 130.50 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2024, nearly equivalent to the total annual greenhouse gas emissions of Italy or Saudi Arabia.