As we know, cryptocurrency mining farms are very energy intensive. But I had not idea how much until I read that paper ‘Bitcoin must die‘ by Andrew Gallagher. And in reality, Bitcoin production is really using a huge amount of electrical power worldwide! Actually it takes an enormous cost to produce.
“If Bitcoin were to cease trading tomorrow, 0.5% of the world’s electricity demand would simply disappear. This is roughly equivalent to the output of ten coal-fired power plants, emitting 50 million tonnes of CO2 per year – which would cover one year’s worth of the carbon emission cuts required to limit temperature rises this century to 2C. ”
According to the article, which is very detailed from a technical perspective, there are new algorithms that are must less energy-intensive that the ones used by Bitcoin and that allow for secure block-chain usage, so at least there should be an obligation to shift to those much less power-hungry algorithms.
