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The WEF posted a positive story about bitcoin mining’s ability to soak up stranded energy and capture otherwise-leaking methane.

But they made sure to call it “data centers”.

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House_of_Lewis 2y ago

The WEF feels compelled to masquerade a mining operation as a data center because mining is considered an illegitimate use of energy. Yet the claim made is they they are using reclaimed energy to power the mining.

If it is truly only reclaimed energy (all of which would otherwise be waisted) then they need not hid the fact that it’s a mining operation.

So, either bitcoin mining has such a bad reputation that they must hid what the process is despite the fact that in this one case energy use is not illegitimate, or there is a plan to continue the mining process even at times when there is no waist energy available and it uses “non-waist” energy, whatever that might be.

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House_of_Lewis 2y ago

After reading or listening to this article, what are your reactions?

My first reaction is that there is some risk that bitcoin could loose public support because of this issue. And if that somehow results in less mining, then there will be scarcity of bitcoin, and that will drive up price.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/09/business/bitcoin-mining-electricity-pollution.html

Replying to harq

You completely missed the point of bitcoin mining. The energy expenditure is the main factor that keeps the network secure.

ASICS get more efficient all the time and hashrate keeps going up because of it, but the thing that should be looked at is energy expenditure. That's the real cost of network security.

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House_of_Lewis 2y ago

So, if someone could figure out some big leap that reduced the energy expenditure, then that could reduce network security?

Replying to

🐢

I appreciate your support, but I’m going to push back on your statement that we need to find a way to increase miners efficiency.

That’s not at all the answer.

The answer is that mining bitcoin should happen where it is appropriate to do so when considering all externalities. A great example is Bitmain’s mining location at what was once the worlds largest aluminum smelter. An energy intensive facility designed with a co-located power plant repurposed for bitcoin mining.

Humanity itself is energy intensive. The more we grow, the more energy intensive we become.

We need to stop bickering and fighting over this fact, and embrace its realities.

Carbon neutrality is a red herring. Energy efficiency is simply a way to use old infrastructure to support more electrical usage.

My only real point in this long discussion is that all electrical use is not equal, and there are specific infrastructure demands that high electrical usage creates. If everyone in the country added a home miner to their house, most likely circuits would trip all around.

Where I would agree with your statement regarding efficiency, is with the electrical grid on a whole. That is the real discussion to be had. Electrical infrastructure around the world is both fragile and inefficient.

Bitcoiners need to stand with electrical utilities to embrace nuclear energy, transmission lines, and updated circuits to embrace the next 100years of energy intensive activists we are embarking upon.

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House_of_Lewis 2y ago

Thanks for the reply.

Can we fix old infrastructure by retrofitting sub-systems in it?

Can we also build new infrastructure?

Can we consider improving bitcoin mining efficiency?

I say non of these are mutually exclusive, right?

Replying to

Mike Brock

But the money that comes from the usage provides income for investment in maintenance and capital investment in increased capacity. Including investment in cheaper, cleaner energy.

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House_of_Lewis 2y ago

I’d side with #[2] here. And I’m not saying any government should actually dictate how much energy bitcoin miners consume. The real point is that lots of energy has been used for bitcoin mining and so that process is not at all efficient.

Let’s pretend we all stopped eating food, heating/cooling our buildings, watching sports, browsing social media, lighting our spaces, buying & building stuff, and going places. And we did that to the point that the only energy consumption was for mining bitcoin. Seems to me that world would be exactly the opposite of what we want for humanity.

New technologies should be reducing the carbon footprint, not increasing it. We need to find a way to increase the efficiency.