The debate about bitcoin energy consumption has begun. Ethereum founder Anthony Donofrio said bitcoin uses “far too much” energy.
According to figures from Digiconomist, bitcoin (BTC) currently uses 0.82% of the world’s energy, while Ethereum (ETH) uses 0.34%. Ethereum researcher Justin Drake has released these numbers for his 56,000 fans, which Donofrio owns retweetedsaying:
If bitcoin is using almost 1% of the world’s energy, that’s too much for a pet rock. https://t.co/CDL32jk5FF
—Texture, PhD (@iamtexture) June 9, 2022
If bitcoin uses almost 1% of the world’s energy, that’s too much for a pet rock. https://t.co/CDL32jk5FF – Texture, PhD (@iamtexture) June 9, 2022
Ethereum supporters want to chase Bitcoin as they push ahead with Ethereum’s imminent transition, Drake added another tweet a few minutes later read: “Ethereum post-merger: 0.000% of the world”.
However, the validity of these figures is questionable.
Drake was even forced to admit that there were other data sources in a subsequent tweet, which estimated that the power consumption figures were almost 60% lower.
Data from Digiconomist, which describes itself as a platform that “reveals the unintended consequences of digital trends,” has been criticized by blockchain industry professionals in the past. Most notable of these is Josh Stark, another Ethereum developer, who criticized the publication for often presenting the worst case scenario for blockchain technology.
In November last year, Stark published a Twitter feed who questioned the accuracy of Digiconimist research methodology. Stark pointed out that almost all of the blockchain power consumption figures were in the “high range” of any theoretical result, especially compared to more stringent sources such as Cambridge University.
While Digiconomist claims that bitcoin currently consumes 204 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity per year, the Cambridge University Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that actual bitcoin consumption is much closer to 125 TWh, a difference of 39% .
Read also: Is the environmental impact of bitcoin mining misunderstood? Kristian Csepcsar, Managing Director of Slush Pool, answers this question
While the Bitcoin proof of consensus mechanism is well known as an energy – consuming process, discussions about how much energy the Bitcoin network actually uses are still a hot topic.
According to a report by Cointelegraph, the actual energy consumption of bitcoin is quite difficult to quantify due to the diversity in energy sources that power bitcoin mining worldwide.
In January of this year, almost 60% of global mining operations were reported to be powered by renewable energy sources, with miners rushing to use “unused” natural gas resources that would normally be burned. . In addition, a report published by CoinShares in January of this year found that bitcoin mining could account for only 0.08% of total worldwide CO2 emissions by 2021.
Sam Tabar, Chief Security Officer of Bit Digital, a publicly traded bitcoin mining company, told Cointelegraph that the environmental impact of bitcoin is often exaggerated by critics:
“The environmental impact of bitcoin mining is greatly exaggerated by critics and mainstream financial authorities (IMF, etc.) because they know they can share a new counterculture movement by using false environmental arguments. They try to pit us against each other. They illuminate the world with false ecological arguments, and I understand why: They do not want to lose their influence on the power levers of systems that only work for the elite ”.
