[rwcarlsen]

At human civilization's scale, the energy production/consumption market is not a zero-sum-game. I would be curious to know how much extra energy production the crypto-currency world has caused/incentivized to be established (e.g. increased capacity factors of underutilized hydro-power, etc.). It's not as if consumption will grow until there is no energy left for anything else. We will just produce more (which can also be a problem - e.g. CO2 and such).

[mikeash]

I don’t think anyone is presenting it as a zero sum game. The concern is increased pollution. In a way it would be much better if it were a zero sum game, as that would mean that bitcoin doesn’t increase pollution levels.