Errant from the underlying trend of Bitcoin mining towards the cheapest energy in the world.
Bitcoin, according to its bombastic ad copy, uses more energy than many countries, emits more carbon than millions of automobiles and its pollution “WILL ONLY GET WORSE WORSE WORSE WORSE!”
As an environmentalist who has been studying Bitcoin mining’s energy footprint since 2011, I have a radically divergent perspective. I think Bitcoin holds tremendous promise as a tool for decarbonizing the grid, cleaning up waste methane and accelerating the electrification of heating. I see Bitcoin mining’s emissions not as increasing, but steadily trending lower in the future. And I predict it will actually make energy cheaper, not more expensive.
Bitcoin mining is trending towards the cheapest energy in the world, and the effects of this are a net positive for energy systems and the environment. Bitcoin miners will never use power at times when power is most expensive, and they will buy up unwanted power produced by intermittent renewables at the wrong time, or by nuclear or hydro facilities in local power markets with insufficient demand. This improves the economics of those forms of electricity generation, and incentivizes the cleanup of waste methane and the electrification of heating.
The inferences I’ve drawn above all have caveats and exceptions, but these are exceptions that prove the rule. Bitcoin mining is trending towards nearly-free energy use.