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Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

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Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#23

Completely pales next to something as egregious as disposable tech that sells in the millions and only has a lifespan of 2 years tops like AirPods. They will still be washing up on beaches 100 years after every single person involved in their design has passed. Whole electronics industry needs to take this stuff more seriously, we need more replaceable batteries and storage, right to repair on a global level and laws…

You really think that AirPods are a larger cause of e-waste than dedicated Bitcoin mining equipment? Or are you comparing dedicate mining equipment to all consumer technology combined?

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#24
Is the hardware still working when it is discarded?

If it is only discarded because there is new hardware with a better calculations/energy ratio then it would be better to use a new POW algorithm, which does not benefit from single purpose ASICs.

Or are processors and memory broken beyond repair when they have been running at max speed for a few years?

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#25
One bullet point says: "On average Bitcoin generates 272 g of e-waste per transaction processed on the blockchain."

So transactions on exchanges are less wasteful?

A deposit from wallet to exchange generates the same pollution?

Or is it "only" mined transactions? Does the transaction size matter?

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh you mean like those people who fly around in private jets while admonishing people for inter alia flying on commercial airliners too much? (Remember: you're just a peasant. Money elevates you into a new ontic reality where the normal moral principles don't apply.)

That's true. But that's everyone. I've yet to meet a single person who is willing to make the personal sacrifices needed to actually help the world. You get a bunch of normal people (i.e. 'peasants' if you wish) sitting around talking about how to save the environment while eating fruit grown in a faraway land and trucked to them in a refrigerated truck. Everyone wants to say the solution is that other people should…

That's the whole problem isn't? The actions of any individual, or even the actions of everyone in a small-to-medium sized nation are just too small on their own to mark significant change.

Too many people aren't willing to accept this simple fact: the standard of living in the cushy societies of the Western middle class is completely and utterly unsustainable. And probably never will be. Avoiding environmental degradation is simply not possible without a major quality of life reduction.

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#27

Completely pales next to something as egregious as disposable tech that sells in the millions and only has a lifespan of 2 years tops like AirPods. They will still be washing up on beaches 100 years after every single person involved in their design has passed. Whole electronics industry needs to take this stuff more seriously, we need more replaceable batteries and storage, right to repair on a global level and laws…

On those lines, a company I'm very much been keeping an eye on is framework

https://frame.work/

I've wanted something like this for years, a laptop that is actually repairable but isn't awful in specs or ergonomics. When they start selling in my region I'll be all over it.

If you care about these problems then vote with your wallet.

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#28
post #17

There seem to be studies after studies [0] of how wasteful Bitcoin (PoW) is - correctly so. Are there any similar studies regarding the banking system? With buildings and buildings full of offices just for banks, their IT infrastructure, plus ATMs, POS, etc. How frequently are these systems replaced/upgraded? How much energy are they using? I think it would be interesting to make a comparison. [0] (I have no sources,…

Don't forget the vehicles and fuel required to transport it and all the processes that go into creating physical money.

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#29

This reminds me of that tweet from BP about their environment calculator, can't find the source right now. But the idea is they "care" about environment while they did the biggest oil spillage in history, otherwise known as the old proverbial: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_pot_calling_the_kettle_bla... Do I really need to point who is the biggest e-waste generator in the world? Solve that problem first.

The thing is, we complain about the oil companies and at the same time we take the car to go to work, shopping, etc.

It's also the consumers who are using the oil, not only the oil companies, who are to blame at the end. If no one buys, no one will produce.

Sure, if it's cheap and readily available, people will use it no matter how bad it is.

That's why it's so important that the governments increase the taxes on oil, petrol and diesel.

Re: Bitcoin's growing e-waste problem

#30

I'm starting to get irate now with the hypocrisy of some who talk about how the Government need to be more green, but then follow up with "oh my bitcoin worth's gone through the roof!"

I'm starting to get irate now with the hypocrisy of some who talk about how the Government need to be more green, but then follow up with Windows N+1, Android N+1 or iOS N+1.
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