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Is Bitcoin Mining a Real-World Environmental Problem?
First time accepted submitter HeadOffice writes "Mark Gimein points out that Bitcoing mining uses a lot of power, enough that it is a real world problem: 'About 982 megawatt hours a day, to be exact. That’s enough to power roughly 31,000 US homes, or about half a Large Hadron Collider. If the dreams of Bitcoin proponents are realized, and the currency is adopted for widespread commerce, the power demands of bitcoin mines would rise dramatically. If that makes you think of the vast efforts devoted to the mining of precious metals in the centuries of gold- and silver-based economies, it should. One of the strangest aspects of the Bitcoin frenzy is that the Bitcoin economy replicates some of the most archaic features of the gold standard. Real-world mining of precious metals for currency was a resource-hungry and value-destroying process. Bitcoin mining is too.' However, not everyone is convinced that virtual mining is as bad for the environment as the real thing."
"Isn't there a mechanism for adjusting the difficulty of mining depending on how much mining is done? Wouldn't that mean that the difficulty will go up if the price does, so that they will match?"
Yes, that is one of the things that would serve to bring the cost up to market place. While more miners will also bring the price down to the cost. (Actually, it's not "adjusted" per se. It's built in to the math. The more Bitcoins that are mined, the more difficult they become to mine.)
But my main point was that the market right now is very, very far from that equilibrium. It's completely irrational.