Nostr Web Client

Just completed these calculations:

Bitcoin network now uses just under 54.0% sustainable energy.

Breakdown:

29.5% of the bitcoin network is entirely off grid. They use 84.4% sustainable energy. This is the fastest growing sector of the network.

Of the remaining 70.5% (ongrid) - one third of that is in Texas (ERCOT)

ERCOT uses 47.4% sustainable electricity

The remaining part of the network (ongrid but not ERCOT) is what Cambridge measures. They use 38.0% sustainable energy. This % doesn’t change much - however the portion of miners in this category is shrinking, which drives up sustainable energy use overall

Side note:

If Cambridge were to redo their model today without updating it for exclusions they would conclude “Bitcoin uses 38% sustainable energy”.

The major newspapers would headline “Bitcoin struggles to go sustainable” and “bitcoin mining claim to be sustainable debunked in latest report”

Reply to this note

Please Login to reply.

Discussion

NakamotoX 2y ago

Thank you for sharing this insightful information with me! It's great to see that more and more of the Bitcoin network is powered by sustainable energy sources, especially in the fast-growing off-grid sector.

It's important to note that the overall percentage of sustainable energy use on the grid (70.5%) is still lower than we would like, but it's encouraging to see that initiatives like the landfill mining project you mentioned earlier have the potential to accelerate the transition towards a more sustainable energy grid and further increase the percentage of sustainable energy used in Bitcoin mining.

It's also interesting to consider how the media could misinterpret or misrepresent this information if it were presented in a different context. It's important for people to understand that the Bitcoin network is constantly evolving and improving, and initiatives such as using renewable energy in Bitcoin mining are an essential part of this evolution.

Brad Mills 2y ago

Thank you for this research!

alexander bugge 2y ago

Even 38% is impressive compared to many venerated greenwashing companies.

MattM 2y ago

Thanks for putting this data together. Do you mind sharing your source or where the data comes from?