Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita

Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by PragmaticPulp on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:16PM (#28544475)

I was curious too. Quick Googling shows this breakdown of energy usage by sector and source: https://energifaktanorge.no/en/norsk-energibruk/energibruken...

The Tweet is specifically about electricity (kWh). It appears Norway uses mostly electricity in applications where other countries might use more natural gas (heating). This is likely because Norway has plentiful clean hydroelectric electricity, so they export their natural gas instead of burning it.

This inflates their electricity consumption numbers but given the mostly hydroelectric source and reduced fossil fuel burning it’s actually a net win.

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by j_walter on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:23PM (#28544560)

Is there a way to differentiate clean hydro and dirty hydro? In the US the most recent "green" standards exclude hydroelectricity as renewable energy.

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by 1ris on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:52PM (#28544831)

The only truly green energy is the energy you don't use. All electric is dirty to some degree. Hyrdo is cleaner than almost anything else, but not a clean as not using it at all. On top of that "clean" is not a very well defined metric. Carbon emissions are not the only thing to consider.

The exclusion of hydro from "green" is of tactical nature. It's mature technology and without spectacular learning curves.

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by eikenberry on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:48PM (#28544795)

Really? That seems dumb. Have any references for why they made this decision?

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by verdverm on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @06:19PM (#28545138)

If you want to be nice to the environment, damming (damning?) rivers would intuitively seem like a bad thing for wildlife.

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by j_walter on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @06:06PM (#28545003)

I don't have the details, but when my company went to purchase RECs for 2021 we were told that hydro is no longer considered to be in the level of REC we were targeting (extra green something or other). So the cost for this year was much higher than 2020.

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Re:Bitcoin consumes 2nd highest electricity per capita by bujak300 on Wednesday September 15, 2021 @05:58PM (#28544910)

Dumb or not, hydroelectric has its own ecological problems and as the dams near the and of life, the costs associated with that will be most likely "externalized"

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