in 2021, bitcoin The amount of excess energy consumed by mining and its negative impact on the carbon footprint has been the subject of much debate. In fact, last year, Tesla started selling vehicles with Bitcoin, but later abandoned this decision, citing the excess energy consumption of Bitcoin.
These days as we enter 2022 Bitcoin mining We see that the carbon footprint discussions continue.
The Energy Used in Bitcoin Mining Is Overrated!
According to the “Bitcoin Mining Network” report by digital asset investment firm CoinShares, bitcoin The mining network contributed less than 0.08% to total global carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Bitcoin mining Considering that its impact on climate change is overstated, the company argued that when the amount of CO2 emitted by other industries is calculated, Bitcoin mining emits a very small amount of CO2, which is incomparable with others.
According to CoinShares, the Bitcoin mining network emits 50 times less CO2 than aviation and 25 times less than air conditioners.
In addition, the report stated that the CO2 emitted by BTC mining is even less than the gold and money industry.
“It is estimated that the emission caused by the printing of fiat coins is about 8 million tons per year, while the gold industry produces between 100 and 145 million tons of CO2 emissions per year.”
According to the data obtained by CoinShares, it was stated that BTC mining consumes 89 TWh of energy annually, which corresponds to approximately 0.05% of the total energy consumed worldwide.
MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, who recently spoke at the quarterly briefing of the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC), said that the amount of energy used in mining of Bitcoin does not constitute more than a “rounding error” when the amount of energy used in different industries is taken into account, and when compared to the whole world, it is “negligible. He said it was level.
In this context, we see that the research data of CoinShares and the statements of Michael Saylor overlap.
[1/6] Bitcoin’s energy usage and its indirect environmental impact has always been a topic of discussion. We at CoinShares Research developed a comprehensive model to estimates and created our own data collection framework to populate it. pic.twitter.com/glS93elCOX
— CoinShares 👩🚀 (@CoinSharesCo) January 28, 2022