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Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

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Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#12
post #3

Quoted post unavailable.

Wouldn't it be better to instead store that surplus energy using methods like this one? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumped-storage_hydroelectricit... The value of Bitcoin is purely speculative and varies wildly, at least with stored energy you always have a market that's willing to buy it from you.

Better for whom? The upfront investment is much higher. If the market buys energy from you, they give you money. You can turn bitcoin into money instantly without having to store energy. You don't care about the value of bitcoin fluctuating, you care about the instant profitability of mining vs storing the energy.

Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#14

Gold mining consumes 240.61 TWh per year, which is comparable to the electrical energy consumed by a country like Australia. Source: https://globalenergyprize.org/en/2021/11/24/the-bitcoin-gold...

Gold as a material has many uses, not only to back currency. Comparison to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not particularly useful.

Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#15

Gold mining consumes 240.61 TWh per year, which is comparable to the electrical energy consumed by a country like Australia. Source: https://globalenergyprize.org/en/2021/11/24/the-bitcoin-gold...

Gold has many uses other than as a speculative holder of value.

Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#16
post #3

Quoted post unavailable.

I can explain my own downvote, if you like: the article is calling for reform of Bitcoing to make it more sustainable. You're pretending it's calling for bitcoin to be abolished - i.e a total strawman. You're also downplaying the enormity of the statement made by the post - including that Bitcoin has singlehandedly negated any climate gains we're making by electrifying cars. That's appalling, given the extremely low social or economic utility of Bitcoin at the moment.

Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#17
post #14

Gold mining consumes 240.61 TWh per year, which is comparable to the electrical energy consumed by a country like Australia. Source: https://globalenergyprize.org/en/2021/11/24/the-bitcoin-gold...

Gold as a material has many uses, not only to back currency. Comparison to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not particularly useful.

Most of mined Gold is used as an investment vehicle or to make jewelry.

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-in...

Re: Bitcoin consumed 134 TWh in total during 2021

#20
post #3

Quoted post unavailable.

The cost of mining equipment makes it only economical to mine bitcoin if you can run the hardware 24/7, at least until the difficulty rate levels off. We can talk about hypotheticals or small mining operations, but the reality is that the big miners (Riot Blockchain, Marathon Digital Assets) are using coal and natural gas and are putting out hashrate that blow the “green” miners (dubious anyway) out of the water.
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