12-20-2017, 04:17 AM
Today, each bitcoin transaction requires the same amount of energy used to powernine homes in the U.S. for one day. And miners are constantly installing more and faster computers. Already, the aggregate computing power of the bitcoin network isnearly 100,000 times larger than the world’s 500 fastest supercomputers combined. The total energy use of this web of hardware is huge — an estimated 31 terawatt-hours per year. More than 150 individual countries in the world consume less energy annually. And that power-hungry network is currently increasing its energy use every day by about 450 gigawatt-hours, roughly the same amount of electricity the entire country of Haiti uses in a year..
Bitcoin could cost us our clean-energy future | Grist
A recent report suggests that at current prices, Bitcoin miners will consume an estimated 8.27 terawatt-hours per year. That might sound like a lot, but it’s actually less than an eighth of what U.S. data centers use, 1 and only about 0.21 percent of total U.S. consumption. It also compares favorably to the currencies and commodities that bitcoin could help replace: Global production of cash and coins consumes an estimated 11 terawatt-hours per year, while gold mining burns the equivalent of 132 terawatt-hours. And that doesn’t include armored trucks, bank vaults, security systems and such. So in the right context, bitcoin is positively green.
Bitcoin Is Greener Than Its Critics Think - Bloomberg
About 58 percent of the world’s large cryptocurrency mining pools were located in China, followed by the U.S. at 16 percent, the researchers said. China is the biggest producer and consumer of coal, and server farms in provinces such as Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjian are heavily reliant upon the fuel.
Coal Is Fueling Bitcoin’s Meteoric Rise - Bloomberg
“The ‘true’ value of Bitcoin depends on its future use case,” wrote Brosens. “If users would, en masse, lose interest, then it could end at zero. On the other hand, in the unlikely scenario that Bitcoin takes over all worldwide payments, its value could rise beyond $1 million.” Brosens didn’t give a specific target, but suggested that over the long term, the digital currency “has little to offer a wider audience, and will likely return to being a niche product for a select group of enthusiasts.”
One economist says bitcoin could hit $0—or $1 million - MarketWatch