[fallenspec]

Have you thought though that if more money goes into Solar, Wind/etc (via BTC, Eth mining and similar) that more money goes into renewable energy and thus more money can be spent by those companies improving their existing offerings or researching new tech?

A lot of the time Early adopters end up essentially funding technology that would have investment otherwise.

[betterunix2]

With Bitcoin mining, that money comes with the massive carbon emissions driven by the huge energy demand. The alternative, governments subsidizing solar/wind/etc. deployments, comes without the massive energy demand and lets grid operators shut down their carbon-emitting plants.

Like I said, the fact that people are bringing carbon-emitting power plants online to power Bitcoin rigs speaks volumes about this line of thinking.

[fallenspec]

The problem is with many with your attitude is that everything must be done perfectly now. This is the attitude of an abolitionist. It isn't perfect therefore it must be banned.

There is money to be made mining Bitcoin and people will mine it (illegally if need be). It is better that if this funds renewables (they claim to be paying for offsets according to the clip and investing in Solar) now even if it isn't perfect (The plant itself seems to be better than the Coal powered plants in China).

[SantalBlush]

This is a broken windows fallacy that is often repeated on reddit and HN. It makes about as much sense as all of us buying solar panels and leaving our refrigerators open all day.

[fallenspec]

I didn't know what the broken window fallacy was. So I looked it up. It is rather dubious if what I said fits into this fallacy.

If I leave my refrigerator open all day, it is guaranteed it will produce nothing of value. In this case, it is more dubious. They are producing a good that people want to buy. You might think Bitcoin is worthless, but that is besides the point, other people think it is worth it. Since the benefit vs the energy usage is completely subjective it isn't as clear cut as you like to make out.

My point was that people spending time doing things that seem pointless at the time can sometimes benefit everyone in the future in unexpected way. You, nor I can know what the future holds.

[SantalBlush]

>If I leave my refrigerator open all day, it is guaranteed it will produce nothing of value.

This isn't true. I can put the back of my refrigerator in my doorway and use it to cool my house. "Leaving my refrigerator open all day isn't wasteful, because it cools my house and I use green energy to do it." This is essentially the logic used in this thread; it is a complete non sequitur.

I suppose one could say that whether or not it's wasteful to cool my home with my refrigerator is subjective, but most would say that's just being obtuse.