[rspeer]

Well, it's not true. Bitcoin has increased the demand for coal power in China. Bitcoin miners flocked to New York State for cheap natural gas power.

Green energy is not necessarily the cheapest form of energy. If it were, it wouldn't even be _hard_ to stop burning fossil fuels and prevent climate change.

[cjbprime]

Here's a NYT article about Bitcoin miners moving to New York State last year, but not for natural gas -- instead to a depressed ex-industrial town that has overprovisioned hydroelectric, as you'd expect:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/19/nyregion/bitcoin-mining-n...

When did miners go to NYS for natural gas power? Are they still there, or did they get undercut by hydro from somewhere else in the world?

[cjbprime]

Green energy isn't the cheapest source everywhere in the world, but Bitcoin mining has no geographic restriction. Instead of picking a location and then choosing an energy source once there, as most of us do, they can first pick a green energy source and then choose a location anywhere in the world that provides it.

Thus, there's no analogy to the challenge the rest of the world faces in moving away from fossil fuels.

[keymone]

What’s your source? From what I’ve heard bitcoin mining farms in China are located in regions taking pretty much all energy from hydro.