How much raw energy does it take to create a #bitcoin?
I've calculated these values based on data from the Antminer S19 XP (141 TH/s), which is a top of the line, highly efficient variant of the S19 series from Bitmain.
1. Hashing Power:
The Antminer S19 XP has a hashing power of 141 TH/s. In a scenario where we have 18,750 such units operating, the total hashing power amounts to ~ 2,625,000 TH/s, which is equivalent to 2.625 EH/s.
2. Blockfind Difficulty:
At the current difficulty of 52.33 T, the above quoted hashpower will result in a blockfind cadence of approximately 24 hours per blockfind. It's important to note that the total energy necessary for the blockfind is consistent given the same machines and blockfind difficulty, regardless of the timeframe or the number of machines. This assumes that there is sufficient time and enough machines to complete a blockfind within the given timeframe.
In other words, while using more machines would find the block in a shorter timeframe, the total energy consumed would still be the same. Similarly, if we were to use fewer machines over a longer timeframe, we would end up consuming the same total amount of energy for the blockfind.
This consistency is due to the fact that the energy consumption is fundamentally tied to the difficulty of the blockfind & the efficiency of the A.S.I.C machines used, not the number of machines or the timeframe. This is, granted one has enough time & machines to make a blockfind at all within a given timeframe, otherwise all energy would of course be spent without production of a coinbase transaction by the miner and therefore no coins would have been produced by that miner in particular. If ASIC machines with a different efficiency rating are being utilized for hashing, the amount of power required for production would vary, even given the same blockfind difficulty and network hashrate.
3. Energy Consumption:
One S19 XP (141 TH/s model) consumes approximately 3,010 Watts.
To generously account for some inefficiency in electricity transmission and PSU operation I have bumped this consumption rate to 3,070 Watts. This equates to energy consumption of 3,070 Joules per second, 11,052,000 Joules per hour, and 265,248,000 Joules per 24 hours.
The energy consumption of these units collectively is approximately 57,562,500 Watts = 57,562.5 kWh = 1,381,500 kWh per 24-hour period.
57,562,500W = 57,562,500 J/s = 207,225,000,000 J/hour = 4,973,400,000,000 J over a 24-hour period
Over a 24-hour block find cadence, these units consume approximately 4.9734 terajoules (TJ) or 4.9734 × 10^12 joules of energy per block find.
The current Bitcoin block reward is 6.25 btc. When we look at the energy consumption per Bitcoin produced, it's around 795.744 gigajoules (GJ) or 7.95744 × 10^11 joules.
4. Hardware Costs:
For additional reference, the current market rate of one Antminer S19 XP unit is approximately 0.126BTC. Therefore in rough estimation, the total cost for all units in this example is currently around 2390.47 BTC + additional infrastructure & overhead costs (aside from the direct energy costs), to support running these units.
#Bitcoin #ProofOfWork #HardMoney #Energy #Economics 