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Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

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Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#2

Post by vmception »

This is an area people should remain vigilante about. Although most bitcoin mining uses renewable energy[1][2] or reduces pollution from flaring sites by actually using the to-be-flared gas onsite, without vigilance that won't remain the case, especially if state actors begin competing.

[1] https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternati... a Cambridge study which corroborates and reached the same conclusion as an industry [2] study https://coinshares.com/research/bitcoin-mining-network-june-...

Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#3

Post by [deleted] »

vmception wrote: post #2

This is an area people should remain vigilante about. Although most bitcoin mining uses renewable energy[1][2] or reduces pollution from flaring sites by actually using the to-be-flared gas onsite, without vigilance that won't remain the case, especially if state actors begin competing. [1] https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternati... a Cambridge study which corroborates and reached the same conclu…

[deleted]

Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#4

Post by nrmitchi »

vmception wrote: post #2

This is an area people should remain vigilante about. Although most bitcoin mining uses renewable energy[1][2] or reduces pollution from flaring sites by actually using the to-be-flared gas onsite, without vigilance that won't remain the case, especially if state actors begin competing. [1] https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternati... a Cambridge study which corroborates and reached the same conclu…

Vigilant*

While someone going all Batman on a fossil fuel power plant would be interesting, it would probably end poorly.

Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#5

Post by xvilka »

A simple move that would ban selling fossil power plants for cryptocurrencies mining purpose BUT allowing to do so for the carbon-neutral energy would be a win-win for both sides and will help the transition from carbon-heavy energy.

Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#7

Post by pcthrowaway »

xvilka wrote: post #5

A simple move that would ban selling fossil power plants for cryptocurrencies mining purpose BUT allowing to do so for the carbon-neutral energy would be a win-win for both sides and will help the transition from carbon-heavy energy.

I'm wondering if 'carbon-neutral' energy production is really environmentally neutral, especially when channeled to cryptocurrency mining.

Take wind turbines: they've found that harvesting wind actually increases the temperature in an area. Do enough of this, coupled with channeling the energy into heat-producing machines, are we sure this isn't gong to contribute to global warming at scale? Not to mention the harm to avian wildlife, as the turbines kill 5 birds per year each on average.

Next you have the externalized costs of building the infrastructure. Producing the wind turbines, the power plant, and the GPUs. Is all of that really getting offset?

I'm very optimistic about the potential for cryptocurrency to change the world, but I'd like that to be for the better. And when we have emerging proof-of-stake platforms that have much less of an impact on the planet because they don't by design rely on energetically inefficient ways to secure their networks, I really don't understand how we can argue that proof-of-work cryptocurrencies have any place in the future.

Re: Bitcoin miners are buying power plants

#8

Post by bottled_poe »

vmception wrote: post #2

This is an area people should remain vigilante about. Although most bitcoin mining uses renewable energy[1][2] or reduces pollution from flaring sites by actually using the to-be-flared gas onsite, without vigilance that won't remain the case, especially if state actors begin competing. [1] https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternati... a Cambridge study which corroborates and reached the same conclu…

Most? The linked report says 39% or did I miss something?
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