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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:Already disputed and debunked by dbIII · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It being "mined" by malware these days so the cost gets shifted. It was obvious from near the start that such a thing was going to happen and a few people even posted here about that a few years ago. I could say "I told you so" but somebody else with far more understanding of bitcoin than I told me first.

  2. It just occurred to me... by joh · · Score: 3, Interesting

    that BC is perfectly suited to outsource mining into orbit: Energy is cheap there and bitcoins are easily beamed back... A perfect product to manufacture in space. Lol.

  3. Re: So build out the blockchain on Gridcoin by Burz · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Right. It's just like the other content that reads, no one will accept 1/120 of the value. Seem /. Users aren't that smart, don't understand economics, and fail to see what happens when governments declare bitcoin illegal.

    Can't spend it? Can't use it. What good is it too accept a currency you can't spend in real life.

    Um, you think bans are the conduit for making bitcoin corrupt? The real threat is and always was the formation of cartels. And as far as I can tell, bitcoin is 98% there.

    Seriously, all financial institutions have to do to control bitcoin is to swamp its matrix with processing power. And finance specializes in processing power. Idiots!