According to a study by the United Nations, generating the cryptocurrency Bitcoin worldwide uses more electricity than many densely populated countries like Pakistan. Projections as of July this year predicted that more than 135 terawatt-hours (TWh) would be needed to mine Bitcoin in 2023, a group led by Kaveh Madani of the Institute for Water, Environment and Health at the United Nations University in Hamilton (Canada) wrote. In the specialized magazine Future of the Earth.
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The majority of electricity comes from fossil fuels. Cryptocurrency therefore puts severe pressure on the environment and climate. Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies and verifying blockchain transactions consume huge amounts of energy.
Two-thirds of electricity comes from fossil sources
According to the study, 173 terawatt hours were needed to mine Bitcoin in the 76 countries observed in the two-year period between 2020 and 2021 – 60 percent more than in the period from 2018 to 2019. The researchers rely on data from the Cambridge Electricity Consumption Foundation. From Bitcoin. index.
67% of the electricity used in mining between 2020 and 2021 came from fossil energy sources. Hydropower, as the main renewable energy source for the Bitcoin mining network, covers about 16 percent of electricity needs.
Madani’s team stresses that the water footprint of cryptocurrency production is large. For the period from 2020 to 2021 it is about 1.65 cubic kilometers. This would enable supplies to be provided to more than 300 million people in rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. During the same time, about 86 million tons of carbon dioxide were emitted through Bitcoin mining.
(Teo)
