Ask HN: What is the impact of Bitcoin mining on climate change.? - manicksurya
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cjbprime
It's probably quite small. Press journalists don't realize that Bitcoin has
created an arbitrage market for power, such that miners travel the globe to
find the cheapest sources of available power, which are renewable sources like
overprovisioned hydroelectric where there is no demand for excess output
(think: dams in rural China, far away from a city that the power could be
economically sent to), and the mining reward lowers to compensate for that
power cost. Today, the reward is now lower than the _cost_ of mining using
fossil fuel power.

So, Bitcoin's contribution to fossil fuel power use is small because it has
become unprofitable to mine Bitcoins using fossil fuels. The electricity would
cost you more than the reward. It would be irrational to do it.

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mtmail
"Based on their most conservative appraisal, the team found that the
cumulative emissions from bitcoin would be enough to push global warming
beyond 2C in 22 years. If the average rate of technology uptake is used
instead, this number is closer to 16 years."
[https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/bitcoin-climate-
ch...](https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/bitcoin-climate-change-
global-warming-cryptocurrency-mining-electricity-a8607036.html)

