The New York Digital Investment Group posted a research presentation regarding Bitcoin Mining written by Nic Cartee and Steven Ross this month. In general, the paper is smartly arranged and contains three chapters;
- Significance of Bitcoin Today
- Bitcoin’s carbon emissions
- Bitcoin’s Future Carbon Emissions
Discussion
In the project paper, Nic and Ross discuss how the blockchain’s carbon emission will change over time.
As projected by the researchers, the change is dependent on factors such as price changes and the amount of energy consumed.
The paper, however, predicts that the energy consumption level of Crypto Giant Bitcoin will remain as low as 0.5%, unaffected by price fluctuations.
In the project paper, the researchers penned, “Even at the peak of high price scenario, Bitcoin’s emissions will only account for 0.9% of global carbon emissions in 2027. By 2040, carbon emissions in the high price scenario would have turned to pre-2020 levels (0.1%of global emissions).”
Last year, the duo said, the BTC blockchain used more than 60 TWh of electric energy and produced more than thirty million tonnes of Co2 emissions. These figures are 0.04% and 0.1% of the world’s total, respectively.
Bitcoin Mining Recent Challenges
In March, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced that his company would allow BTC as a mode of payment when purchasing vehicles. The billionaire, however, took back his words claiming that the company no longer accepts using the Crypto to pay for goods.
According to Musk, Climate Change is Tesla’s biggest concern.
The Chinese government banned the mining of cryptocurrency, forcing miners to flee to Crypto friendly countries. Just like Tesla and most people, China wants a greener environment.
It is not all bad news for Bitcoin, however, as El Salvador recently made history. The country became the first to accept Bitcoin as a mode of payment next to the US dollar.
Sources of Energy
Hydroelectric power is the top source of energy. Wind and solar energies are cleaner but fall further down the rankings. In the middle of the list, there is Coal and natural gas.
Statistics show that more than twenty-five thousand TWh of energy is produced annually. Interestingly, 84 % of this is put to use while the remaining percentage goes to waste.
Currently, the major problem the industry is facing is the threat it poses to the environment due to the high rate of Carbon emissions.
Some good news, however, is that companies are working day and night to curb this challenge. For instance, some companies have opted to tokenize carbon credits to try to reduce the environmental destruction caused by mining Crypto.
Bottomline on Bitcoin Mining
For mining companies to accomplish a green BTC network, mining companies should strive for productions with a lower fossil fuel demand (especially Coal).
Also, these mining companies can aim to tokenize carbon credits (decarbonize BTC mining).
Click here to read more Crypto related news.