Bitcoin power consumption
As a keen environmentalist I wanted to know the truth about Bitcoins environmental impact. Whilst bitcoin does have undeniable CO2 emissions (greatly exaggerated by vested interests) the more obscure environmental upside of Bitcoin is potentially huge ! Money, Finance, Energy & Climate are for more intertwined than anyone ever realised.
Bitcoin power consumption = World TeraHash x Bitcoin Average J/THash
(calculating) x (calculating) = (calculating) GW
Bitcoin Mining Annual Power Consumption = Watts x Hours
= (Calculating) TWh
Bitcoin Mining Annual CO₂ Emissions = Power x gCO₂/kWh
(Calculating) x
= (Calculating) MtCO₂
(Calculating) - (Calculating) Mitigation = (NetCO) MtCO₂
Interestingly, although hash rate is climbing (mainly due to vast improvements in ASIC efficiency) Bitcoin's emissions are starting to plateau due to improvements in Grid carbon intensity & fully expected to drop following subsequent halving events.
The dotted blue line is MT CO₂ minus mitigation such as mining with Methane + Home/ Business heating. Other mitigating factors not included are mining curtailment/ demand response schemes & banking sector curtailment.
The large drop in emissions during 2021 is due to the China mining ban followed by the subsequent move of much of the hash rate to the US where grid carbon intensity is generally lower.
The dotted blue line is MT CO₂ minus mitigation such as mining with Methane + Home/ Business heating. Other mitigating factors not included are mining curtailment/ demand response schemes & banking sector curtailment.
The large drop in emissions during 2021 is due to the China mining ban followed by the subsequent move of much of the hash rate to the US where grid carbon intensity is generally lower.
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All calculations are Bitcoin BTC ONLY
Factors are-
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For comparison the Three Gorges Dam the largest dam in the world has a generating capacity of 22.5 GW or more than 2 x Bitcoin
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All Currencies have an environmental cost.
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Where does Bitcoins energy go ?
Bitcoins power consumption serves three purposes
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≈ 98% Block reward
Like mining gold out of the ground. The block reward is currently 6.25 BTC
Gold takes hard work to acquire so does Bitcoin - Proof Of Work 
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≈ 2% Transaction fees
Additional reward is for processing all the transactions. Like melting, distributing gold bars and coins
Typically 0.1 - 0.7 BTC per block 
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0.0008% Bitcoin nodes
10,000s of nodes storing & verifying every transaction ever.
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When the gold's gone most miners will pack up and go home
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By 2028 over 98% coins will be mined & by 2140 virtually all coins will be mined. Subsequent Halvening's every 4 years coupled with tech advances will make it much easier to simply buy rather than mine.
Miners will be increasingly hashing for transaction fees + an increasingly tiny block reward, the "Gold Rush" will be over considerably reducing power consumption, leaving the world with a much more slimline incorruptible economic backbone of world money. No more bailouts ! The real cost of Banks. |
Bitcoin electricity per transaction
It takes roughy 244,608 kWh to mine 1 Bitcoin.
It takes roughly 25kWh to mine 1 Bitcoin transaction.
This one transaction could contain 10s-10,000s of Lightning or Batched transactions.
Below Bitcoins power consumption separated into Block reward & Transaction fees.
It takes roughly 25kWh to mine 1 Bitcoin transaction.
This one transaction could contain 10s-10,000s of Lightning or Batched transactions.
Below Bitcoins power consumption separated into Block reward & Transaction fees.
The average Bitcoin transaction is roughly £200,000 with a carbon footprint of 5.47kg. Bearing in mind it could be sent to the far side of the world, an armoured car carrying gold bars may clock up the same carbon foot print just driving a couple of miles down the road.
Even better 1 lightning transaction or channel opened, may close a year later having performed a virtually limitless amount of transactions ! Now you’re dividing that by 1000s ! We’re talking a carbon footprint of less than an email !
Even better 1 lightning transaction or channel opened, may close a year later having performed a virtually limitless amount of transactions ! Now you’re dividing that by 1000s ! We’re talking a carbon footprint of less than an email !
Bitcoin & Technology.
In the future Technological improvements will increase the hash rate, and not so much brute power. From 2009 to 2022 represents a 45,000% improvement in mining hardware efficiency.
2009 In 2009 you could mine on a regular PC
97,000,000 J/THs |
2022 - Bitmain S19 XP Mining now is only profitable on dedicated hardware such as a Bitmain S19j 140TH XP ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) 3030 Watts
21.5 J/THs. Cost $5,500 |
Bitcoin vs EV's & the Grid
As large loads on the the grid increase, the more integrated they have to become. The last thing the grid needs is 2 million EVs plugging in during peek demand, or GW of electricity going to Bitcoin mining when it is required for A/C during a heat wave. Fortunately both these types of load can & already are very flexible in avoiding peek demand times.
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Global Electric Vehicle sales continue to grow exponentially with 28M EVs on the road in 2022.
Here's a comparison of EV charging (Car + Bus + Lorry) vs Bitcoin electricity consumption. While the trajectory of EV electricity consumption is relatively easy to predict, Bitcoin is not so easy, many unknown factors like government policy & Halvenings. 
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Emission savings from switching to Electric Vehicles already dwarf Bitcoin emissions (contrary to Dogyconomist dogma). The emission savings of switching from banking to Bitcoin could be MUCH larger !
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Which will be the perfect companion for electrical power generation ? I do not think it will be an either or situation, both are already happening, all that is required is a variable price signal from the supplier, Miners & EV chargers will happily gobble up all that cheap clean electricity but EVs have the flexibility advantage.
EV Pros
Bitcoin pros
Bitcoin cons
EV Pros
- EVs can Pause charging when load is high (demand response)
- EVs are idle for 90% of their life offering greater flexibility as to when they charge, possibly going weeks without need
- EVs will be a MUCH bigger load than Bitcoin. As an 2 X EV driver I know they account for half of my total energy consumption.
- EVs can incentivise renewable build out
- EVs are already responding to cheap off peak electricity on a large scale by charging at night for 1/4 the price
- EVs can return electricity to the grid at peek times (Vehicle To Grid)
Bitcoin pros
- Large scale mining is / can easily be integrated / colocated with power generation allowing great coordination
- Bitcoin can incentivise renewable build out
- Small scale demand response such as home mining for heat can be turned off during peek demand with variable tariff schemes such as Octopus saving sessions
Bitcoin cons
- Industrial scale Bitcoin miners needs much greater up time (>80%) to remain profitable.
- Despite all the "BITCOIN WILL BOIL THE OCEANS 😱" FUD, Bitcoins Power Consumption simply is not currently & may never be that big of a deal. Is that a con ? 🤷🏻♂️
Interesting Facts
If entire Bitcoin mining network consisted of the most efficient air cooled miner (Bitmain S19 XP 141TH) it would require -
- 2,234,426 units (330,000,000TH / 141TH), Consuming 2,234,426 x 3010W = 7.04GW or 61.7 TWh/year
- Bitcoins highest recorded power consumption peeked briefly at approximately 11.8 GW in June 2023
- It takes 4.5kWh to refine 1 gallon(UK) of fuel. A Tesla can travel 23 Miles (37km) on that. If we simply stop refining fuel well have enough.
- Combining Bitcoin mining & atmospheric CO₂ removal (CDR) ? If every ASIC was an S19 110T, there would be 3,000,000 ASICs with a total airflow of 17,512 MT. This would take 114,207 years to process HALF the atmosphere. So no.
Sources Links & Related Articles
Bitcoin Mining Council - bitcoinminingcouncil.com
Miner Daily - Moore’s Law vs Bitcoin ASICs and Network Growth
Green Bitcoin - Miners Demand Cleaner Energy
Bitcoin Stats - Bitinfocharts
Check out the - bitcoin mining museum
Miner Daily - Moore’s Law vs Bitcoin ASICs and Network Growth
Green Bitcoin - Miners Demand Cleaner Energy
Bitcoin Stats - Bitinfocharts
Check out the - bitcoin mining museum
