Re:Bitcoin could cost us our clean-energy future
by panarky on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @02:50AM
(#15859319)
Cryptocurrencies consume a miniscule fraction of the energy that the legacy financial system wastes on office buildings, data centers, air travel and commuting employees.
Why doesn't anyone complain that JPMorgan will "cost us our clean-energy future"?
The great thing about a financial system defined by open-source software is that true innovation happens every day. Already we see testing with proof-of-stake, lightning network, etc. that are vastly more energy efficient.
Re:Bitcoin could cost us our clean-energy future
by Frogolocalypse on Wednesday December 06, 2017 @02:08AM
(#15859167)
I have no problem energy increasing in price if people think it is an issue. It will have little effect on the architecture of bitcoin. If anything, it will benefit it by increasing decentralization.
Would you say that the worldwide electricity consumption of Christmas decorative lights (2.3 GW assuming it's 3× the US) is "astounding"? Well, Bitcoin miners consume less than that: I estimate 1.7 GW based on my previous research bounding it to 0.6-1.2 GW as of July.
http://blog.zorinaq.com/bitcoin-electricity-consumption
Why do miners receive such a disproportionate amount of criticism considering that so many other energy uses are vastly more wasteful by multiple orders of magnitudes... Cars alone waste 95% of their fuel energy. The US wastes 61-86% of its energy: https://cleantechnica.com/2013/08/26/us-wastes-61-86-of-its-... But, no, the average HN reader seems more concerned by these miners using 0.01% of the world's energy.
In the future, we may eventually reach a point where the energy use starts becoming worrying, but we are currently very far from that point.