The environmental cost of crypto mining: Bitter truth about digital wealthThe yearly energy consumption in 65 Bitcoin-mining nations stands at 73.42 Terawatt hours.Jijo MalayilPublished: Oct 24, 2023 08:01 AM ESTcultureBlockchain concept with coin on the motherboardadventtr/iStock Get a daily digest of the latest news in tech, science, and technology, delivered right to your mailbox.Subscribe now.By subscribing, you agree to our Terms of Use and Policies You may unsubscribe at any time.Huge investments have been made in the cryptocurrency market due to the surge in value over the past ten years.Digital currencies have widely gained the trust of the world’s top investors, including major enterprises, tech millionaires, criminals, money launderers, and sanction breakers.In addition to becoming a challenge to conventional currencies, the dynamic market for cryptocurrencies has an often less talked about the dark side.According to new research by the United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH), mining cryptocurrency might significantly negatively affect the climate, water, and land.
The popularity of Bitcoin prompted UN researchers to study its mining operations in 76 nations during the 2020–2021 period, intended to assess its impact on a global scale.”The results are shocking.In addition to a substantial carbon footprint, global Bitcoin mining activities have significant water and land footprints,” said a statement.See Also Related X now has a license for crypto payments and trading in the US Bitcoin trades at five-year low, but value remains strong Fossil fuel power: a dying trend in 50% of economies The details of the research done by the United Nations University were published in the journal Earth’s Future.Energy consumptionThe study found that the total amount of power used by the Bitcoin mining network was 173.42 Terawatt hours.
In other words, if Bitcoin were a nation, it would have had a higher energy consumption ranking than Pakistan, which has a population of nearly 230 million.Researchers estimated that the resulting carbon footprint was equal to that of running 190 natural gas-fired power units or 84 billion pounds of coal.
The equivalent of the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Denmark, or 3.9 billion trees—or 7 percent of the Amazon rainforest—should be planted to balance this footprint.Contributions of different energy sources.UNU-INWEH Aside from the massive demand for energy, a large portion of the energy used in Bitcoin mining comes from fossil fuels, with coal making up 45 percent of the total energy used, followed by natural gas (21 percent).Hydropower is the primary renewable energy source for the Bitcoin mining network, which satisfies 16 percent of its electricity consumption and has considerable water and environmental implications.Nuclear energy makes up 9 percent of Bitcoin’s energy mix, but solar and wind only provide 2 percent and 5 percent of the total electricity utilized by Bitcoin, respectively, according to the study.Offsetting carbon emissionsThe study also looked at ways to offset the damages done to the environment due to Bitcoin mining.Take, for instance, China leads the list of Bitcoin mining countries around the globe.
Researchers estimated that in 2021–2022, about 2 billion trees should be planted, spanning an area equal to the total of Portugal and Ireland or 45,000 times the size of Central Park in New York City, to offset the carbon emissions from China’s coal-intensive Bitcoin mining operations.Along with China, the top 10 countries in the world for Bitcoin mining in 2020–2021 also include the likes of the US, Kazakhstan, Russia, Malaysia, Canada, Germany, Iran, Ireland, and Singapore.The team says that when the different environmental footprints are considered, the nation’s rankings regarding the ecological impacts of their Bitcoin operations change.”Because countries use different sources of energy to generate electricity, their electricity production impacts on climate, water, and land are not the same,” said Dr.Sanaz Chamanara, the lead author of the study and an Environmental, Social, and Governance (EGS) Research Fellow at UNU-INWEH, in a statement.
Interestingly, when all the parameters like water or land footprint of such mining activities are considered, Norway, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom enter the top 10 list.Also surprising is that 92–94 percent of Bitcoin’s global carbon, water, and land footprints are collectively attributed to the top 10 Bitcoin mining nations regarding environmental impact.The study also aimed to make recommendations to reduce the impact of digital currencies on the environment, including “investment in other types of digital currencies that are more efficient in terms of energy use and less harmful to the environment.” The research also highlights the transgenerational and international effects of cryptocurrency mining.“When you note which groups are currently benefiting from mining Bitcoin and which nations and generations will suffer the most from its environmental consequences, you can’t stop thinking about the inequity and injustice implications of the unregulated digital currency sector,” said Professor Kaveh Madani, the Director of UNU-INWEH, who led the study, in a statement.HomeCultureAdd Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.Add Interesting Engineering to your Google News feed.SHOW COMMENT (1) For You Gunk protection? NASA tweaks Voyager software for a surprising reasonNorthrop Grumman’s ATHENA is a MANPAD’s worst nightmareHuge 100 billion m3 deep coalbed methane found in China7 of the maddest ship designs ever conceived by engineersScientists now know more about the Sun thanks to ancient Korean textsThe hidden influence of chaos theory in our livesNew tubes enable LIGO to probe 60% more of the universeNew developments in Alzheimer’s treatments12 science, tech, and engineering newsletters you need to check outIs AI better than your doctor? A new study tests the ability of AI to get the right diagnosis Job Board.
