I think there is a fundamental disagreement that happens between many of us bitcoiners and the stereotypical progressive environmentalist
We think more energy use is good for humanity and essential
They think more energy use is bad for the planet and thus bad for humanity
We have to find the ability to agree on that fundamental principle, and I’m hoping bitcoin mining through renewables, including nuclear, can help folks understand more energy use is a good thing when done in the right way.
Honesty I don’t really think the main point should be about solar, nuclear, whatever. If the energy was still going to be used for something else then it’s zero sum from their point of view. It should be about trapped or very low demand times / locations. Energy that would not have been used otherwise or generation that would not have been economically viable without bitcoin as a base load demand creator. #[2] had someone on his show from Texas Blockchain Council(sorry if I butchered the org name) recently that was talking in this area. They did quite put it the way I stated it but was along the same lines.
Flared Natural Gas is likely the best extreme example, it doesn’t matter that Natural Gas is not renewable, it matter that it’s an energy source that would have had zero alternative demand.
Lee Bratcher
I’ve enjoyed all the Bitcoin mining podcasts in the past few months.
It’s amazing how thought provoking bitcoins impact on the power grid can be.
I think what’s fundamentally misunderstood here is the law of conservation of energy!
We’re not spending any energy that didn’t already exist!
Agreeing on where to spend that energy is the challenging part - but we don’t necessarily even have to agree. You either opt into bitcoin, or you don’t.
