Bitcoin's Carbon Footprint

[Kelly Jo]

"Today, each bitcoin transaction requires the same amount of energy used to power nine homes in the US for one day"

www.wired.com

" Simply put, bitcoin is slowing the effort to achieve a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. What’s more, this is just the beginning. Given its rapidly growing climate footprint, bitcoin is a malignant development, and it’s getting worse."

How much of this issue belongs to our community, I wonder? If this article is accurate, then the next logical issue we face is accountability.
I haven't researched this any further so I can't confirm it's accuracy. I do believe, however, that there is enough general information to warrant concern.

 

[goatwack]

Well as long as it's just US homes that's alright then

 

[Kelly Jo]

Well as long as it's just US homes that's alright then

Is your children learning?

 

[nikantw]

The most powerful country elected leadership that doesn't care about climate change. That means voters don't care.

Back to the article. Not important, not real, just food for thought.

Too many hypotheses. The article starts with "Over the weekend, the price nearly hit $12,000. At the beginning of this year, it was less than $1,000." so what if next weekend it goes down to $1000 or $100?
Do we know what the future holds? What will be the energy consumption of future computers or when we will master cold fusion? What if a new "eco" currency eliminates bitcoin in the next months?

 

[ed skull murphy]

I was a chimney sweep, but I had to pack it in because I was leaving huge carbon footprints all over the place.

Let's set a few things straight here:

Carbon Dioxide is not harmful to the planet, in fact the converse is true. CO2 promotes vegetation, which is good for us humans, and good for the planet in general.

"Fossil fuels" is a complete misnomer, crude oil is produced close to the earth's core, by cosmic radiation from the sun, the same energy that makes this planet habitable, the life force of the planet, in fact, the energy which provides us with the gravitational force that we are familiar with.

Crude oil is not made from dead dinosaurs or sea creatures, and it is not in danger of running out, because it continually replenishes itself, thanks to the sun.

Bitcoins are a threat to the Inter-Alpha Banking Group's desired monopoly of the global money system. Enough said.

 

[Kelly Jo]

The most powerful country elected leadership that doesn't care about climate change. That means voters don't care.

Back to the article. Not important, not real, just food for thought.

Too many hypotheses. The article starts with "Over the weekend, the price nearly hit $12,000. At the beginning of this year, it was less than $1,000." so what if next weekend it goes down to $1000 or $100?
Do we know what the future holds? What will be the energy consumption of future computers or when we will master cold fusion? What if a new "eco" currency eliminates bitcoin in the next months?

(You might be in the wrong thread. This is not a political debate. That thread is in the attic. Whoopsie!))))

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In case you haven't heard, the debate regarding the relevancy of BTC t has been settled.

If you're at all familiar with the Bitcoin mining process, it's not difficult to understand that this is a real issue.
I've done a bit more digging on the topic and there is no shortage of discussions and articles to garner information from..
Many of them make more dramatic claims than the one referenced in my original post.

Knowledge and common sense should fuel (no pun intended) our actions. I'm no tree hugger, but I have 3 beautiful children and one perfect granddaughter and their future matters a great deal to me. Treating this dismissively doesn't seem rational from my perspective.

 

[nikantw]

(You might be in the wrong thread. This is not a political debate. That thread is in the attic. Whoopsie!))))

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In case you haven't heard, the debate regarding the relevancy of BTC t has been settled.

If you're at all familiar with the Bitcoin mining process, it's not difficult to understand that this is a real issue.
I've done a bit more digging on the topic and there is no shortage of discussions and articles to garner information from..
Many of them make more dramatic claims than the one referenced in my original post.

Knowledge and common sense should fuel (no pun intended) our actions. I'm no tree hugger, but I have 3 beautiful children and one perfect granddaughter and their future matters a great deal to me. Treating this dismissively doesn't seem rational from my perspective.

I agreed it is food for thought. But I strongly dissagree that using Bitcoin is going to cause climate change. It may need to change and evolve, but it wont destroy the earth.

 

[ed skull murphy]

(You might be in the wrong thread. This is not a political debate. That thread is in the attic. Whoopsie!))))

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

In case you haven't heard, the debate regarding the relevancy of BTC t has been settled.

If you're at all familiar with the Bitcoin mining process, it's not difficult to understand that this is a real issue.
I've done a bit more digging on the topic and there is no shortage of discussions and articles to garner information from..
Many of them make more dramatic claims than the one referenced in my original post.

Knowledge and common sense should fuel (no pun intended) our actions. I'm no tree hugger, but I have 3 beautiful children and one perfect granddaughter and their future matters a great deal to me. Treating this dismissively doesn't seem rational from my perspective.

I understand your concern Kelly-Jo, but in my opinion, we should be more concerned by the unbridled 'printing' of dollars, pounds, euros by the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, The European Central Bank, etc. It is literally a black hole of debt that our grandchildren will never extricate themselves from, but are being born into, completely unfairly.

 

[Naok777]

The solution to the problem? People need to move on from traditional crypto currencies like bitcoin, there are other projects

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for example that replace "for the sake of it" mining with distributed computing or other useful things.

 

[Kelly Jo]

I agreed it is food for thought. But I strongly dissagree that using Bitcoin is going to cause climate change. It may need to change and evolve, but it wont destroy the earth.

I didn't mean for this to be a debate on climate change. Being knowledgeable and contentious about our impact on the environment shouldn't be a debate.
I was appropriately shocked when I read this information.

If my Dad found out I consumed that much energy -making a single bitcoin transaction- he'd roll over in his grave and probably unplug my waterbed like he did when he found out I was sneaking out and sleeping over at my boyfriends house. (I kid you not! He was more mad about wasting energy keeping my bed warm than about me sneaking out... lol!)

 

[09237653]

End users are not using this much energy per transaction.

It's down to the miners, literally warehouses full of computing equipment mining bitcoins 24/7 the electricity cost of the one example below was $80,000 a month but it makes $1.5 million in bitcoin per month (at time of filming BTC were worth $375 each now they are $17,000 each)

 

[weesie]

The most powerful country elected leadership that doesn't care about climate change. That means voters don't care.

This is so much bullshit!

Keep dragging up lying crap!

Put this comment in the "politics" section & I wouldn't have read it.... I swore off that section!

 

[nikantw]

This is so much bullshit!

Keep dragging up lying crap!

Put this comment in the "politics" section & I wouldn't have read it.... I swore off that section!

Wow

A simple "not true" and a link to the correct information would be enough!
If I am wrong I apologize in advance.

 

[philderby]

Polar Bears

Unfortunately when all said and done, in around 35 years all the polar bears will be extinct due to us throwing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Sadly the evidence of this happening is plain to see

 

[ed skull murphy]

Unfortunately when all said and done, in around 35 years all the polar bears will be extinct due to us throwing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Sadly the evidence of this happening is plain to see

Polar Bear Numbers Still On The Rise, Despite ‘Global Warming’

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[ed skull murphy]

Inter-Alpha Group

Useful article about the Inter-Alpha Group

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[ed skull murphy]

Scientists who dissented from the (peer-reviewed) groupspeak were vilified or ignored. In the 1980’s distinguished British scientist, Sir Fred Hoyle FRS was one who tried and failed to expose the chicanery of proponents of the fossil fuel theory and diminishing world oil reserves. Hoyle, without the benefit of the worldwide web tried repeatedly to expose this flimflam,

“The suggestion that petroleum might have arisen from some transformation of squashed fish or biological detritus is surely the silliest notion to have been entertained by substantial numbers of persons over an extended period of time.”

The English professor valiantly argued that oil is abiogenic (i.e. from mineral deposition) and cannot be a biotic (from fossils). Yet despite his eminent stature Hoyle’s sage insight gained him no media platform.

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[ed skull murphy]

I hate to keep bumping this thread, but I feel I should add a caveat.

There are clips on youtube of interviews with the likes of Warren Buffett, John McAfee, Bill Gates etc., and they all seem to be bigging up the BTC boom, which should send up massive red flags, because they are all proponents of globalisation, I believe.

So bitcoin looks as if it could be being set up for a bust, and it kind of emphasizes that any alternative to the Empire's monopoly of the global monetary system will not be tolerated... or if it is tolerated, will be co-opted and controlled by them.

Tread carefully!

 

[weesie]

""""and they all seem to be bigging up the BTC boom,""""" What is ""bigging up"""?

 

[ed skull murphy]

Promoting it, big time, by predicting astronomical returns.

 

[nikantw]

Just read that there are 1300 other cryptocurrencies!
Some of them ready to take its place, like NEO.

Some started a war on bitcoin and I believe its carbon footprint is part of that. But their "enemy" is all cryptocurrencies.

I care about the environment, so we should all stop using our cars (unless its electric car charged by solar panel or wind generator).
That's a big and real issue.

 

[ed skull murphy]

Just read that there are 1300 other cryptocurrencies!
Some of them ready to take its place, like NEO.

Some started a war on bitcoin and I believe its carbon footprint is part of that. But their "enemy" is all cryptocurrencies.

I care about the environment, so we should all stop using our cars (unless its electric car charged by solar panel or wind generator).
That's a big and real issue.

That's very good news indeed, regarding the many alternative currencies available, although it is still a bit of a minefield.

I agree with you about the internal combustion engine, for those of us who live in an urban environment, which more and more of us are being forced to do, the sulphur fumes and unburnt petrol fumes or soot particles from the diesels are just plain anti-social.

For those who live out in the sticks, it is probably a necessity to own a long range vehicle, and not the least bit harmful to the environment, from a 'carbon' perspective.

I myself ride an electric scooter, it's ideal for zipping around town, I can park it on the pavement right where I need to be at, and it costs pennies per day to run. I don't need a licence, nor road tax, nor a helmet, nor insurance, and I can ride it half-pissed (although I would never do that).