How does the Bitcoin Mining Industry's energy usage compare to other industries?
- I think it is time to reframe the whole discussion of Bitcoin energy consumption.
- The current discussion focuses on comparing Bitcoin energy consumption to one country at a time, and ranking it in a list ranking countries by energy consumption.
- I think this approach is not logical because Bitcoin isn’t mined in only one country.
- It is mined worldwide, and used worldwide.
- So why would we compare world wide Bitcoin energy consumption to one countries energy consumption?
[source for title picture above] (https://pixabay.com/images/search/bitcoin%20electricity/)
Think about it for a moment:
- If we were comparing the energy consumption of electric cars versus the energy consumption of gasoline powered cars.
- We would not compare the energy consumption of all electric cars in the world to energy consumption of gasoline cars in one country.
- And we definately would not look at that comparison and say that because energy consumption in electric cars worldwide is greater then the energy consumption of all the gasoline cars in Spain, electric cars are bad because they consume to much electricity.
- No, we wouldn't do that because it's not logical because it's not an apples to apples comparison.
- We would compare the energy consumption of electric cars in every country added up together to gasoline car energy consumption in every country added up.
- In other words we would compare the Global energy consumption of electric cars to the global energy consumption of gasoline cars, because that would be logical.
- That is why I say that if we want to assess the energy consumption of Bitcoin, we must compare global Bitcoin energy consumption to the global energy consumption of other industries.
- Then we have logical comparisons, which can give us meaningful data.
Pause to think about this please.
- So I have looked for articles comparing the global energy consumption of Bitcoin with the global energy consumption of similar industries like Gold Mining and jewelry Industry, or banks, as in the Finance and Insurance industry.
- I think you will be surprised by what I found.
First start with two questions:
- Question number one is how much energy do Bitcoin mining and blockchain transactions consume in one year globally.
- Question number two How much energy are other similar commodities and similar industries consuming in one year.
#Note: An equally important measurement is how much carbon dioxide does Bitcoin mining and transacting produce each year. So I will also add that number.
How much energy does Bitcoin consume and how much carbon does it produce
- Cambridge Bitcoin Energy Consumption (CBECI) estimates Bitcoin annual energy usage at 79 terawatt hours (79 TWH per year.)
- Bitcoin produces 22.1 Megatonnes of carbon per year.
Now to decide if Bitcoin is naughty or nice...
We will check our list and just like Santa Claus we will check it twice: Looking at both energy consumption and carbon dioxide production. To answer the second question; How much energy are the other commodities and industries producing.
Bitcoin versus Building and Construction Industry
Building and Construction
- Electricity 167,472 terrawatt hours (167,472 TWH)
- Bitcoin: 79TWh, or 0.19% of the building and construction industry
Building and Construction Globally
- 36,440 Megatonnes of CO2 per year
- Bitcoin: 22.1 Megatonnes of CO2 per year, or 0.18% of the building and construction industry
Source: International Energy Association: Report: Key World Staistics
How does that look on a graph?
You know a picture is as good as a thousand words:
Bitcoin is the very small number on the far left!
NEXT: BITCOIN’S ENERGY USE COMPARED TO THE TRANSPORTATION INDUSTRY
Transportation Industry Globally
Energy Consumption equals 34,582 TWh.
Bitcoin consumption equals 79 TWh, or 0.23% of the transportation industry
Transportation CO2 production equals 8,096 Megatonnes.
Bitcoin CO2 production equals 22.1 Megatonnes, or 0.28% of the transportation industry
source
•
How does that look on a graph:
Thats Bitcoin, the small number on the far left!
NEXT BITCOIN’S ENERGY USE COMPARED TO THE HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY
- This data is from a famous article produced by the European Journal of Public Health September 2020, “Health Care’s Climate Footprint: The Health Sector Contribution And Opportunities For Action,”
Bottom Line:
- Healthcare consumes 3,716 TWh of electricity and produces 1,603 Megatonnes of CO2.
- Bitcoin consumes 79 TWH and Bitcoin produces 22.1 Megatonnes of CO2.
- Bitcoin uses only 2.1% of the energy healthcare uses, and emits only 1.4% of the CO2 healthcare does.
NEXT Bitcoin versus Gold mining and jewelry industries
Gold mining and jewelry industry consumes 265 TWh of electricity annually and produces 145 megatonnes of CO2 annually
• Bitcoin: consumes 79 TWh of electricity versus 265 TWH, or 29.8% of the gold mining and jewelry industries.
• Bitcoin: produces 22.1 Megatonnes of CO2 versus 145, or 15.2% of the gold mining and jewelrey industries.
• source
NEXT Bitcoin versus the Finance and Insurance Industry
- Studies done by the University of California at Berkeley, using the CoolClimate Network Model
- Finance and Energy Industry consumes electricity 4,939 TWH annually
- Finance and Energy Industry produces 1,368 megatonnes of carbon dioxide Co2 annulaly/
- Bitcoin consumes 79 TWh or 1.6% of Finance and Insurance Industry does
- Bitcoin produces 22.1 Megatonnes of CO2 or 1.6% of Finance and Insurance Industry
source
NEXT Bitcoin versus Global Military-Industrial Complex
- Global Military Industrial Complex consumes 6,691 TWh annually
- Global Military Industrial complex produces 2,500 Megatones of carbon dioxide annually
- Bitcoin electricity consumption 79 TWh or 1% of Global Military Industrial complex
- Bitcoin carbon dioxide production 22.1 Megatonnes or 0.88% of Global Military Industrial complex .
• source
Now let us look at the big picture.
How does Bitcoin compare to all these industries on the same graph: Gold and jewelry, Finance and Insurance, Building and Construction, Healthcare, Transportation and Healthcare graphically.
How does the multiple industry comparison look on a graph?
This graph has all these industries and Bitcoin on this graph. Bitcoin is the smallest consumer of energy of all of them on the far left.
Last Words
- Bitcoin is a global phenomenon, and to accurately measure and compare it to other industries we must compare global data to global data.
- Once we do this we find that Bitcoin actually consumes a very small amount of energy when compared to other similar global commodity industries like Gold, Finance, Healthcare, Transportation, the Military and the Building & Construction Industry.
- This also allows us to see that banning Bitcoin on the basis of it’s energy consumption makes no sense because there are no bans on industries which consume far more electricity.
- I think this data suggests that it is more logical and fair to apply existing laws to Bitcoin.
- In closing I suggest you look at this graph below one more time, Bitcoin is on the far left, the smallest number by far for energy consumption.
- I ask you if banning Bitcoin will make a significant impact on global energy consumption?
- What do you think?
- A picture is worth a thousand words :)
This post was written by @shortsegments. He has been writing about cryptocurrency, blockchain and Bitcoin for 5 years.
.
You may also want to read this post about mining Bitcoin and electricity costs ;
https://leofinance.io/@readthisplease/bitcoin-mining-and-cost-of-electricity
.
.
.
.
.
References
- Buildings Status Report for Building and Construction 2020 Report
- International Energy Associations Report titled World Energy Statistics reports
- United Nations Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction
- Bitcoins energy use compared to other industries
Link: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-energy-use-compare-industry - European Journal of Public Health September 2020, “Health Care’s Climate Footprint: The Health Sector Contribution And Opportunities For Action
- Link: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-energy-use-compare-industry
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Hey, great data thanks! I have two questions.
Can I translate this to my hungarian community?
Am I correct to assume, these numbers don't include any building/maintenance energy costs? (you have to build the mining farm first, then replace the wrong asics periodically, which again needs energy)
Sure.
I don’t know for sure, but impression was all energy costs of each industry.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
This was a very good article on this subject. It's a pity you can't get it published somewhere with a larger audience.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Great content, thanks for including my link.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thanks you, and your welcome.
:)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
BTC is not as energy intensive as people make it out to be and the FUD you see in the news is the result. On a side note, I heard that the cost of mining BTC is over the price of buying BTC so what do you think about that?
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Exactly.
Mining is always tricky financially.
You need to buy mining equipment.
Calculate how many months you need to mine to break even. This calculation includes monthly payments to pay down equipment costs, which are reduced by electricity costs.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
This post has been manually curated by @bhattg from Indiaunited community. Join us on our Discord Server.
Do you know that you can earn a passive income by delegating your Leo power to @india-leo account? We share 100 % of the curation rewards with the delegators.
Please contribute to the community by upvoting this comment and posts made by @indiaunited.
Thank you
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Buht.But.. muh purple hair tho! :(
Oh my? One of my photos has purple hair?
Cool Beans!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Noo.. that is the liberals..
Oh...
:)
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
YEAA!
Great analysis. It is clear that this narrative regarding Bitcoin being so harmful to the environment is nothing but crap.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thank you
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Impressive, good post man
Thank you.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Wow. Super interesting stats. And yet Bitcoin is the bad guy. But the thing is I’ll like to believe that basic research would have been done before making such claims, what gives these people who claim Bitcoin is the devil the guts? I don’t get it.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
I think the problem is that you are searching for truth. Other people are pushing a narrative and showing statistics which fit their narrative. The other problem is research takes time and effort, along with understanding the problem.
Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are not completely understood by the people who buy and trade them, and they are less then 1% of the population by some estimates.
So for the majority of the planet cryptocurrency is a magic black box they don't understands. You put money in and riches come out the other end.
You are truly part of the one percent!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Very good article with a very different perspective.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Thank you.
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
Hmmm....
I like this as an interesting economic indicator of productivity.
While productivity is an objective and subjective term, as in if you make more dollars then someone else consuming the same amount of energy does that you make you good even if your industry is evil?
But the idea is a very good one in terms of perspective.
It provides a perspective that something's energey consumption should not be viewed in isolations.
No one would view the energy consumption of healthcare facilities in isolation and condem them for this usage.
perspective is important.
Good idea!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta