Bitcoin and the Environment
We all know that mining Bitcoin is energy intensive process using specialized computer hardware and software designed specifically to perform complex mathematical calculations required to validate and add new transactions to the Bitcoin blockchain. This are not just single computers doing this task but hundreds of computers joined together in a pool or mining pool to combine their computing power and increase their chances of successfully mining a Bitcoin block, this process consumes a significant amount of electricity due to the computational power required to solve the complex mathematical problems. It will make you think and ask how much electricity does bitcoin mining use and what is it's environmental impact?
A United nations study reveals during the 2020–2021 period, the global Bitcoin mining network consumed 173.42 Terawatt hours of electricity, meaning that if Bitcoin were a country, its energy consumption would have ranked 27th in the world, ahead of Pakistan a country with 230 million population, and a carbon footprint equivalent to that of burning 84 billion pounds of coal or operating 190 natural gas-fired power plants. It needs to plant 3.9 billion trees covering an area almost equal to the area of the Netherlands, Switzerland, or Denmark or 7% of the Amazon rainforest to offset the carbon footprint it created. The study also reveals that Bitcoin mining rely heavily on fossil fuel with coal accounting for 45%, natural gas 21%, Hydropower 16%, Nuclear 9%, solar and wind 2% and 5% respectively.
The Top 10 Bitcoin mining countries in the world are:
China, United States, Kazakhstan, Russia, Malaysia, Canada, Germany, Iran, Ireland and Singapore. By a large margin China is the biggest bitcoin mining country in the world, it's 2021-2022 bitcoin mining operations needs 2 billion trees to be planted to offset it's carbon footprint an area equivalent to the sum of Portugal and Ireland or 45,000 times the area of Central Park in New York City. This is only counting the electricity consumption but we all know Bitcoin mining or whatever kind mining needs water to operate, So what are the water consumption of bitcoin mining? The answer to this question is not easy, there are two things to consider when computing water usage of bitcoin mining, the Direct and Indirect usage of water. Another factor to consider is Water consumption is not extensively studied in Bitcoin mining or generic data center research, as reliable data on water consumption factors are challenging to obtain.
Direct - involves onsite water use for cooling systems and air humidification
Indirect - water consumption is associated with generating the electricity necessary to power mining devices.
The water footprint of Bitcoin
2021 - 591.2 GL (Giga Liters)
2022 - 1,573.7 GL.
2023 - 2,237 GL
Image below presents the estimated monthly and annual (indirect) water consumption of Bitcoin miners per country.
Image below is the biggest Bitcoin mining company in the US and their fuel consumption and carbon emission per year.
Conclusion
As Bitcoin and cryptocurrency popularity grows so is it's demand and this entails a growth in it's consumption of electricity and water adding more carbon emission on the atmosphere and adding to water constraints around the world. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency must look for ways to cut their consumption of this limited resource's and perform mining process that is environmentally sustainable.
Sources
https://unu.edu/press-release/un-study-reveals-hidden-environmental-impacts-bitcoin-carbon-not-only-harmful-product
https://www.cell.com/cell-reports-sustainability/fulltext/S2949-7906(23)00004-6#bib4
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html
