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Bitcoin Could Consume As Much Electricity As Denmark By 2020 (boingboing.net)

Posted by BeauHD on from the pick-on-someone-your-own-size dept.

JustAnotherOldGuy writes: The numbers are very back-of-the-envelope and assume a worst case: widespread adoption of Bitcoin and not much improvement in Bitcoin mining activity, along with long replacement cycles for older, less efficient mining rigs. But even the best case [scenario] has Bitcoin consuming a shocking amount of electricity. [As mentioned in a report from Motherboard,] "The results show that in an optimistic scenario, the increase in electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network compared to now is not shocking, from around 350 MW to around 417 MW, but still on the order of one small power station. If things play out a little less favorably, however, the Bitcoin network may draw over 14 Gigawatts of electricity by 2020, equivalent to the total power generation capacity of a small country, like Denmark for example.

3 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Re: Shows how much they hate humanity... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    More like they love freedom. God bless America.

  2. Re:Not much improvement in mining? by manu0601 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bitcoin iis designed so that mining gets harder as new bitcoins are found

  3. Re:Already disputed and debunked by supremebob · · Score: 3, Informative

    Bitcoin really hasn't increased in value over the past few years. The price spiked at over $1,000 a coin in late 2013, and then plummeted. Right now, it's still around $400 a coin, even though it's a hell of a lot harder now to "mine" one than it was 3 years ago.