Bitcoin & climate
When it comes to climate -
"We're going to need bigger guns".
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I have been a member of Extinction Rebellion for few years. Im fully aware of the dire Climate Emergency but also increasingly aware despite all great efforts, we have not made a dint on the exponential increase in green house gasses. When it comes to climate, we're going to need bigger guns !
Energy consumption ≠ Emissions. Many people when looking at Bitcoin for the first time, only see the immediate & surprisingly large energy consumption, however, few grasp the much broader consequences on Finance, Growth & Climate.
Energy consumption ≠ Emissions. Many people when looking at Bitcoin for the first time, only see the immediate & surprisingly large energy consumption, however, few grasp the much broader consequences on Finance, Growth & Climate.
Could Bitcoin “Just stop oil” ?
Below, Bitcoins Global Warming Potential is compared to man made Methane & other sectors Bitcoin could offset. The potential for Bitcoin mining with waste Methane and curtailment of other sectors to reduce over all CO₂equivalent is significant. It could not only make Bitcoin carbon negative, but go way further ! enforcing a Circular Economy & Degrowth.
Global Warming Potential CO₂eq
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Bitcoin can directly reduce emissions from the following sectors -
Bitcoin can also influence the not so obvious but much larger drivers of climate change -
Each section is discussed in more detail below. |
Below a hypothetical future chart showing how Bitcoin could reduce current emissions while trebling it's own.
Growth
What ever you spend money on will result in environmental destruction and more emissions. Only - HODLING - ,NOT spending your Bitcoin has zero emissions. You have literally removed your wealth from the wealth extracting system.
Saving in fiat money 💵💷💶 is effectively giving wealth to The Military Industrial Complex & the Government (AKA the Fossil Fuel Industry). Saving in stocks & shares is investing environmental destruction just to preserve your wealth. Currently savers are forced to invest just to maintain their savings. Savers are penalised, spenders are prioritised.
Growth is absolutely required by governments that have run up ridiculous amounts of debt & have no hope of recouping other than by printing money. In a truly honest world (where money printer bailouts don't exist) the Government would have long since gone bust or would have to live within their means.
Corporate capture of the governments & the money printer is syphoning your wealth into climate destruction. Subsidies & bailouts for the worlds biggest polluters (The Military, Airlines, Legacy car manufacturers, HS2, North Sea oil) , diminishing savings for the poor.
Ironically, subsidised electricity prices & grants in the US have Increased Bitcoin mining profitability and hence contributed to Bitcoins emissions. Even Bitcoin is not totally immune to the fiat money fire hose.
Saving in fiat money 💵💷💶 is effectively giving wealth to The Military Industrial Complex & the Government (AKA the Fossil Fuel Industry). Saving in stocks & shares is investing environmental destruction just to preserve your wealth. Currently savers are forced to invest just to maintain their savings. Savers are penalised, spenders are prioritised.
Growth is absolutely required by governments that have run up ridiculous amounts of debt & have no hope of recouping other than by printing money. In a truly honest world (where money printer bailouts don't exist) the Government would have long since gone bust or would have to live within their means.
Corporate capture of the governments & the money printer is syphoning your wealth into climate destruction. Subsidies & bailouts for the worlds biggest polluters (The Military, Airlines, Legacy car manufacturers, HS2, North Sea oil) , diminishing savings for the poor.
Ironically, subsidised electricity prices & grants in the US have Increased Bitcoin mining profitability and hence contributed to Bitcoins emissions. Even Bitcoin is not totally immune to the fiat money fire hose.
What happened in 1933
US emissions
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A - The US stopped using hard money - GOLD -
Note the acceleration of US emissions arround the same time. Debasing money allows them access to your saved wealth to expand their businesses population empires. 
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"The gold standard was abandoned due to its propensity for volatility, as well as the constraints it imposed on governments: by retaining a fixed exchange rate, governments were hamstrung in engaging in expansionary policies to, for example, reduce unemployment during economic recessions." Wikipedia
Population
Infinite population growth on a finite planet is not going to end well & the government actively encourages population growth. More cheap labour they can tax. All serves to increase the ever expanding government growth Ponzi scheme. They will never cut back because, growth-dependent turkeys will never vote for Christmas.
Banking emissions
Bitcoin currently produces much lower emissions compared to the Banking sectors level of direct emissions. The resulting emissions coming from investment is an order of magnitude greater.
Fortunately in the UK 🇬🇧, Europe🇪🇺 & pretty much everywhere oil isn’t gushing out of the ground - low carbon technologies are cheaper. EVs 5x more efficient have 1/6 the fuel costs & Wind & Solar are the cheapest cleanest forms of power. This may not be as obvious in the US 🇺🇸 as printed money subsidies the Fossil Fuels Industry (Bitcoin fixes this).
Fortunately in the UK 🇬🇧, Europe🇪🇺 & pretty much everywhere oil isn’t gushing out of the ground - low carbon technologies are cheaper. EVs 5x more efficient have 1/6 the fuel costs & Wind & Solar are the cheapest cleanest forms of power. This may not be as obvious in the US 🇺🇸 as printed money subsidies the Fossil Fuels Industry (Bitcoin fixes this).
What if money it's self was the core problem ?
The Big Tomali !
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What if we could simply just save for retirement & not have to invest ?
What if politicians could NOT simply “print” money to raise an army & take us all to war ? What if Airlines & Fracking companies were NOT bailed with freshly printed money ? What if central banks could not print enormous amounts of money give it to the people they dare not say no to ? |
What if money didn't devalue ? What if it stayed the same or you got return ? (its purchasing power increased over time). Maybe Bitcoin is the ONLY thing that can combat the Political-Financial Complex. If inflation is stealing the value of your savings & pensions (quite deliberately via money printing), you are effectively forced to invest in anything that will hold its value against inflation, or ideally give a return, usually Oil & Gas. This is great for business, but bad for the climate. Most Pension's are just a series of investments that you have little control over. Most have no clue as to where their pension is even invested. It's just something deducted from their pay day.
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Let's face it ANY investment will damage the environment in some way even wind turbines (a relatively benign investment that I have) will require concrete, steal & ground clearance.
Fracking Fracking, a major source of methane was funded through money printing. “The real catalyst of the shale revolution was the 2008 financial crisis". Printed money is in effect being laundered from people to Business and destroying the environment in the process.
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Refuse to invest ! Buy Bitcoin !
Methane
According to this report - An Eye on Methane: International Methane Emissions Observatory 2021 , Methane emissions from oil and gas are 80-140 Million Tonnes per year. An estimated 1406 TWh of methane could yield ~30% roughly 422 TWh of electricity, enough wasted energy to run all Bitcoin mining 5x over.
Methane is currently ≈ 50% of GHGs, half of that is man made. Methane is 86x more potent Green House Gas than CO₂ over a 20year period ! When fully combusted 1 kg of natural gas releases 2.75 kg of CO₂ which divides its Global Warming Potential ( CO₂equivalent ) by 31.2
86/2.75=31.2
86/2.75=31.2
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Inefficient flaring of methane results in -
The more we burn, and the more efficiently we burn methane (I.E. in a generator powering a bitcoin mine) the lower the Global warming Potential (GWP). 
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Burning Methane to generate electricity isn’t always profitable because, you can’t always connect the electricity to the grid economically. Bitcoin, however doesn't need to be connected to the grid, so could incentivise much methane burning. This has big possibilities to reduce damaging emissions from the oil & gas industries, landfills & pig/dairy.
Choose one
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Venting
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Flaring
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Crusoe Energy Systems working on a gas-to-bitcoin mining pilot with the gas giant Exxon. EXON Mobil trail mining bitcoin.
Bio Methane & Bitcoin
Here we see Scilling Digital Mining using anaerobic digestion from pig manure to mine Bitcoin & doing the climate a huge favour in the process !
With enough methane to run 4 X this , a possible 844kW. Selling the electricity back to the grid is not an option without a major grid upgrade !
- 1 Power Vault 68 hut
- 68 x 104TH mining rigs = $800 / day
- 68 x 3100W = 211kW
With enough methane to run 4 X this , a possible 844kW. Selling the electricity back to the grid is not an option without a major grid upgrade !
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Land Fill Methane
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Vast amounts of methane leak out of land fills (shown left). Adam Wright form vespene.energy talks to Pete McCormack on What Bitcoin did about harnessing the power of methane to mine bitcoin & mitigate climate change.
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Methane not dissipating !?
Even more worrying new reports of Methane persisting in the atmosphere for much longer ! because of Wildfires gobbling up methane scrubbers !
Gold mining.
Bitcoin can drive a reduction in environmental destruction & emissions from gold mining. With Bitcoin being such a perfect store of value, gold will become a relic used only for jewellery and industrial uses.
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The Gold industry produces 126MT CO₂ Annually
Gold mining =
In 2013 it took 25.8 gallons of Diesel to produce 1 ounce of gold ! |
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Reduction in Military
A rather too cosy relationship? The world's biggest polluter, the Military, is generally funded by unlimited money printing. Ending the "money printer go Brrrr" cycle seriously curtails government ability to spend vast amounts on the military. If your enemies can't afford a large military because wealth is held in Bitcoin - neither can you. Military disappears in a puff of logic.
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This seems to a very cosy relationship, & a major CO₂eq feed back loop. |
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Who's talking about Bitcoin & Climate ?
Margot Paez One of the rising stars in this area, & other panelist’s discuss mining with renewable energy & methane. Twitter ( jyn_urso )
“Climate activists need bitcoin as one of their tools for system change. This is so not easy to understand, but how will you achieve system change, not climate change, if you don’t change the fundamental economics of society? Climate change is a symptom of a more fundamental crisis. If we only achieve decarbonization, the core problem will remain and new symptoms will arise.” A Financial Hail Mary for the Climate: An Argument for Bitcoin Financialization: A backdrop for understanding inaction on climate change and Bitcoin’s role |
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Troy CrossTroy Cross - Philosopher. Environmentalist. Bitcoiner.
Prior to coming to Reed in 2010, he held positions at Yale and Merton College, Oxford. btcpolicy.org/authors/troy-cross |
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Daniel Batten
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Jeff Booth Jeff Booth the author of The Price Of Tomorrow" discuses Bitcoin as a deflationary force.
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Further Sources
The Cantillonian Oligarchy: Why the Left Should Embrace Bitcoin
medium.com
Who is financing the Climate Crisis ?
reclaimfinance.org
Bitcoin – Transformer to an Ecological Society
bitcoinsozial.de/transformator-ecological-society/
medium.com
Who is financing the Climate Crisis ?
reclaimfinance.org
Bitcoin – Transformer to an Ecological Society
bitcoinsozial.de/transformator-ecological-society/
Further reading on this subject from the Bitcoin Policy Institute
Bitcoiners for future website x.com/BTCersforfuture
Bitcoiners for future website x.com/BTCersforfuture
People once owned the land with out money
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Indigenous tribes are forced of their ancestral lands by Governments, Industry & teems of highly payed lawyers with endless money. Of corse the tribes had/have no money and can not compete.
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For anyone really wanting to get into the climate science - The @IPCC_GH has the most extensive library of Climate Science Here a couple of my favourite charts that are not easy to find. IPCC AR6 WGI Page TS-135
