Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index
by flopunctro on Wednesday February 10, 2021 @02:06PM
(#26093355)
> effectively closed system of Earth.
All the plants, algae, and everything with chlorophyll would beg to differ. I really think we cannot consider Earth a closed system, because we're not a rogue planet in the insterstellar void.
Our solar _system_ would be a better approximation of a "closed system".
Re:Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index
by danans on Thursday February 11, 2021 @01:46PM
(#26105513)
Solar radiation is the only significant exogenous input to the otherwise closed system of earth, and I directly addressed it in the context of solar electricity production needing to grow by a huge amount to offset the carbon footprint of BTC mining.
> Our solar _system_ would be a better approximation of a "closed system".
That's both pedantic and irrelevant. The rest of the solar system (other than the Sun) have practically zero bearing in any way on the energy consumption of BTC mining, or the damage to the climate it causes when powered by fossil fuels.
The discussion about energy use of Bitcoin is within the context of the effectively closed system of Earth.
Until such a time that solar generated electricity is too plentiful to meter and ubiquitous, Bitcoin mining will cause huge demand for fossil fuel based energy, with the associated consequences for climate change.