Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index

Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by ecommerceguy on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @10:46AM (#26090702)

I'm not against bitcoin anymore than I am against unnecessary taxation but since bitcoin uses electricity at an insanely unnecessary quantity it should be taxed to the hilt to make up for increased environmental and infrastructure costs that are borne onto the 99.999% that do not participate in the scam.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by abecedarius on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @12:46PM (#26092373)

Tax the externality of actually burning carbon. That's what we actually want to discourage, right?

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by Mc_Big_G on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @12:48PM (#26092408)

How much does it cost to maintain the dollar? It's reserve status is propped up through trillions of dollars spent on the military industrial complex. How much energy does that waste? Massive taxation on Bitcoin, simply because it's energy usage is easily calculated, is questionable.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by rawtxapp on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @10:51AM (#26090776)

Most of it is renewable energy.

edit: 39% of it, as in a lot of it and that number should go up as the world is phasing out dirty energy for cleaner energy sources.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by newswasboring on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:03AM (#26090943)

Its really not[1].

> However, the CCAF’s report specifies that the 76% refers to the share of hashers who use renewable energy at any point. It estimates that only 39% of hashing’s total energy consumption comes from renewables.

> Behind hydroelectricity, coal (38%) and natural gas (36%) are the energy sources hashers favour most.

[1]https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/36672/renewable-energy-....

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by frongpik on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:16AM (#26091119)

Only? I guess that if 40% of the worldwide energy production came from clean sources, all news outlets would count that as a massive success.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by newswasboring on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:18AM (#26091136)

Yes. As they should. Its a much bigger achievement. I don't think these things are related.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by pfortuny on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:13AM (#26091065)

Which could be used for... heating? Lighting? Cooking? Cars? Something useful?

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by rawtxapp on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:27AM (#26091226)

While you might disagree with that, Bitcoin is useful.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by rawtxapp on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:38AM (#26091396)

@s1artibartfast, then it comes down to, who decides what's considered useful? In many ways, the market does, right? If it was useless trash, it wouldn't have any value, but that's clearly not the case.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by s1artibartfast on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:36AM (#26091372)

I think that is the fundamental disagreement. Many people do not view bitcoin as doing anything useful. If it is useful, how does it compare to other solutions for the same problems.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by ecommerceguy on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:33AM (#26091319)

This is for Raw transaction App person. What is bitcoin useful for? Laundering money out of China I give you. Do cartels accept bitcoin yet?

Genuinely curious, what it is useful for?

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by rawtxapp on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:36AM (#26091367)

@ecommerceguy, for protecting my wealth against dilution by endless money printing, stimulus and bailouts of broken companies/banks.

I strongly believe that the current financial system is completely broken, so I'd like to opt out of it as much as possible.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by j-pb on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @11:54AM (#26091651)

You're free to do so, buy a plot of land and grab a plow.

Don't ruin the planet for everybody else so that you can sit on your un-diluting hoard of tulips like a dutch dragon.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by monopoledance on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @12:28PM (#26092111)

I think most of that is hydro-power or geothermal energy, as in some situation, these produce excess energy locally at times.

This is not the same as "renewable" energy, it's locally bound opportunistic energy. Hydro- and geothermal power is limited and almost exhausted already. These power sources are not chosen because they are ecologically neutral, but because mining is portable and can opportunistically use temporary cheap sources, like hydro-electrical dams build before the intended consumers arrived. Nothing in Bitcoin inherently favors sustainable energy sources, over cheap supply. In the coming years, we will have to bite the bullet and chose very expensive endeavors over what the market suggests. Bitcoin doesn't fit this future. It's suggested "value" is nothing compared to humanity's survival.

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Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index by ashtonkem on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @03:27PM (#26094277)

The issue is that energy is largely fungible, at least when limited in space and time. Occasionally renewables are over-produced and can't be transmitted elsewhere, but often every kWh of green energy wasted on bitcoin mining is a kWh of non-renewable energy that has to be created to meet other demands.

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