Increasing activity by Bitcoin mining operators has increased sharply in recent months, resulting in a massive increase in their consumption of energy as of December 10, 2017.
Increased activity and development has led to power outages in some countries such as Venezuela, which is currently facing a financial crisis and its citizens are turn to Bitcoin to earn enough money to stay alive and feed their families.
Bitcoin mining energy consumption
Based on Digiconomist analysis, the energy consumption of Bitcoin mining operations is similar to the country energy consumption such as Oman, Morocco, Serbia and Denmark.
For example, the power spent on operating the main cryptocurrency could provide 48.4% of the energy needs of the Czech Republic, 24.4% of the Netherlands, 0.8 % USA, 5.7% from Germany and 9.8% from Great Britain.
For countries that primarily use coal – fired power plants as a source of energy, the high energy consumption of Bitcoin results in a strong carbon footprint, which harms the environment.
For example, a single facility in China operates more than 25,000 computers for the exploitation of Bitcoin. These computers use more than $ 40,000 worth of electricity a day
Possible Alternatives
According to Climate Change Advocate Eric Holthaus, the demand for electricity for the electricity industry is expected. Bitcoin mining will eventually exceed that of the available supply. He said that by February 2020, the electricity consumption of mining operations will be similar to the current world consumption.
However, there are several possible solutions to solve the problems of high energy consumption for Bitcoin mining. Among the solutions include the adoption of the proof of implementation mechanism, the production of more energy efficient technologies for mining operations and the imminent introduction of the Lightning network.