Is Bitcoin REALLY Killing the Planet?! 😱

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Right then, Bitcoin. The digital gold, the future of finance, the thing your nephew keeps going on about at Christmas. And, of course, the alleged destroyer of worlds. It seems the amount of electricity this thing chews through is enough to power a small country. Or at least a particularly enthusiastic village fete. But is it really all doom and gloom? Or are the Bitcoin botherers just spinning a yarn? Let’s have a look, shall we? 🧐

Proof-of-Work: Or, Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

So, the whole shebang is protected by something called “proof-of-work.” Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Like a knight proving his worth by slaying a dragon. Except the dragon is a really, really complicated maths problem. Apparently, some clever clogs called Dwork and Naor came up with this idea back in ’93, probably while trying to stop spam emails. The basic idea is you have to do some serious number-crunching to get permission to play in the Bitcoin sandbox. 🧮

Validating transactions requires calculations to weed out the ne’er-do-wells. And to encourage these validators, the network rewards them with shiny new bitcoins. It’s like giving a gold star to the kid who can solve the Rubik’s Cube the fastest. This is how bitcoins are “mined,” which is a bit of a misleading term, unless you think of it as mining for digital headaches. ⛏️

Back in the day, mining was a doddle. You could do it on your nan’s old computer while she was knitting. But as Bitcoin got more popular, the difficulty cranked up. Now you need more and more energy to solve these blasted puzzles. It’s like trying to open a pickle jar that’s been glued shut. 🥒

These days, mining is an industrial-scale operation. We’re talking warehouses full of blinking lights and whirring fans, all dedicated to cracking Bitcoin puzzles. By 2018, the Bitcoin network was guzzling as much energy as Nigeria and Denmark. Which is a lot, even if you’re not entirely sure where Nigeria and Denmark are on a map. 🌍

Bitcoin’s Environmental Footprint: More Like a Boot Print

So, how does all this mining malarkey affect the planet? Well, in four main ways, apparently:

  • It leaves a carbon footprint, which is less like a footprint and more like a whole herd of elephants dancing on the ozone layer. 🐘
  • It drinks water like a camel in the Sahara. 🐪
  • It consumes electricity like a teenager left alone with the fridge. 🍕
  • It creates electronic waste, which is basically mountains of discarded gadgets that will probably outlive us all. 🗑️

Based on these metrics, Bitcoin’s impact is, shall we say, not ideal. It’s like inviting a herd of wildebeest to a tea party. It consumes as much electricity and water and leaves as much harmful waste as… well, as some countries. Which, again, is a lot. 😬

It’s hard to grasp what it means when you read that Bitcoin consumes as much power as Poland. But zoom in on each Bitcoin transaction, and you get a more vivid picture. According to Digiconomist, one Bitcoin transaction consumes over 1,100 kW/h (as much as an average U.S. household in 38 days), consumes 17,500 liters of fresh water (as much as a backyard swimming pool), creates over 280 grams of electronic waste (more than 1.5 iPhones 12), while the carbon emissions amount to 620kgCO2 (as much as 1.3 million transactions of VISA or watching 11.7 years of videos on YouTube). It’s enough to make you want to go back to using carrier pigeons. 🕊️

Statista provides similar estimations. More than that, gold mining is less harmful to the environment than BTC mining if we compare the amount of BTC and the amount of gold with the same value expressed in USD. Although no precise date is associated with these estimations, the articles seem to rely on data revealed in 2023 or earlier. So, basically, digging up shiny rocks is less damaging than digital ones. Go figure. 🤔

Tesla, the electric car people, stopped accepting Bitcoin payments in 2021, citing environmental concerns. Which is a bit like a reformed smoker lecturing you on the dangers of cigarettes. Ethereum, another cryptocurrency, switched to a “greener” system in 2022. So even the digital money people are starting to feel the heat. 🔥

And let’s not forget that most mining facilities are powered by fossil fuels. Various sources evaluate the use of fossil fuels to power Bitcoin mining at a range from 50 to 90 percent. So, we’re basically burning dinosaurs to create digital money. Which seems a bit backwards, doesn’t it? 🦕

But Wait! What the Bitcoin Advocates Say…

Hold your horses! Not everyone agrees that Bitcoin is the spawn of Satan. The Digital Assets Research Institute, for example, claims that the data about Bitcoin’s environmental harm is all wrong. Apparently, some dodgy research from 2018 has been quoted thousands of times, while accurate articles only make up 2% of the coverage. It’s like the internet, but even more unreliable. 🌐

And because the environmental impact is a serious problem, various mining operations began to look for ways to greener Bitcoin mining, and the search was successful. The 2020s initiatives saw companies using the excess power for Bitcoin mining instead of wasting this power and the resources spent on its production. So, they’re basically turning waste into… well, more Bitcoin. It’s like alchemy, but with computers. 🧙

a NYC bathhouse is mining bitcoin and using the excess waste energy to heat their pools.

or, in other words, they’re heating their pools as they would ordinarily do, and monetizing the excess power that exists as a byproduct of that process.

this is demonstrably a carbon…

— nic carter (@nic__carter) June 22, 2023

Another way to make Bitcoin mining greener is to rely on renewable resources. Ethiopia, for example, is using its Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam for clean Bitcoin mining. So, they’re basically turning water into digital gold. Which sounds like something out of a fairy tale. 🧚

The 2024 studies show that, lately, Bitcoin mining has played a positive role in reducing CO2 emissions, becoming the straight opposite in terms of environmental impact. So, it’s gone from being the villain to the hero. Or at least, that’s what they want you to think. 🤔

Although some companies already boast they are carbon-neutral Bitcoin mining operations, most enterprises only admit to reducing energy consumption. As no institution that studies Bitcoin’s environmental impact has all the info about mining operations, we don’t have all the data regarding CO2 emissions associated with mining. We can’t say how much the pollution level dropped in the last couple of years. So, it’s all a bit murky. Like trying to see through a London fog. 🌫️

Pierre Rochard of Riot Platforms appeared in a video in which he meters the CO2 level in the mining facility using a special device. It drew some criticism as some users pointed out that the emissions are not coming from the mining devices but are associated with excessive electricity production. It’s like measuring the smoke coming out of a chimney and ignoring the fact that there’s a coal fire burning inside. 🔥

Dude, the CO2 concern is supposed to be related to energy generation to power the CPUs, not the CO2 emission of the CPU themselves.

— Snake Sanders (@snake_sanders1) April 10, 2023

Another line of defense used by some Bitcoin advocates is comparing Bitcoin’s environmental impact to that of the banking system, indicating that bank transactions are not more eco-friendly than Bitcoin. This argument may have made sense if Bitcoin were to replace the banking system, but this is not happening. It’s like saying that because your neighbor’s house is on fire, it’s okay to set your own curtains alight. 🔥

So, Who’s Right? (Spoiler: Probably No One)

The truth, as always, is probably somewhere in the middle. The Bitcoin mining industry is far from eco-friendly, but some people are trying to make it greener. According to a recent report by MiCA Crypto Alliance, 70% of the Bitcoin network will be powered by sustainable energy by 2030. So, maybe there’s hope for the future. Or maybe it’s just wishful thinking. 🤷 To conclude this, we may state that certain mining operations are green while others are not. However, an eco-friendly trend is on the rise. But until then, maybe we should all just stick to using cash. Or bartering with chickens. 🐔

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2025-05-25 08:07