[wmf]

This has been discussed a bunch on HN and elsewhere in recent months. I haven't seen any comprehensive analysis of it, but I have a few concerns:

If you create net new demand then fill it with renewables you haven't reduced emissions at all because the coal plants are still running.

In theory, higher demand can make new tech cheaper due to economy of scale but the effect isn't linear; it's probably like an S-curve. Where are renewables on that scale? Are they already large enough that diminishing returns are kicking in? How much crypto energy demand would move renewable costs? Would it need to be 10% of existing usage? Higher? Lower?

[airza]

The very cynical (and imo correct view) is that he is very interested in the aggregate demand side and not particularly interested in the saving the planet side.

[aaron-santos]

> If you create net new demand then fill it with renewables you haven't reduced emissions at all because the coal plants are still running.

There is a non-zero possibility that the public's perception of coal power plants being associated with Bitcoin mining increases to a point where the support to ban coal power plants reaches an actionable threshold. Consider who benefits from delivering a setback to Bitcoin and see if they enter the arena of public opinion on this issue.

[sadness3]

What is too often left out of the discussion is the highly inefficient traditional establishment which are the alternative for currency trading and distributed financial activity. Most studies show that the traditional approach uses more energy.

[asd4232]

More energy in absolute terms, or per financial transaction?

I mean, what matters is whether replacing the entire financial system with Bitcoin would produce more emissions through mining than the system currently does.

[bingbong70]

The current system is backed by the largest polluter on the planet, the US military. Bitcoin in comparison uses less energy but its too early for some to recognize this fact.

Bitcoin is the settlement layer, tools built on top of it (like 2nd/3rd layer tech that can achieve 100K-1M+ transactions per second) require very little additional energy.

[bingbong70]

Rather than downvote how about telling us where you disagree? Seems silly to rob readers of a potentially useful rebuttal.

[api]

Yes you do have a period when you have more renewables and the coal is still running. Then it ages out and you don’t build more.