Bitcoin energy consumption has risen to over 75 TWh, making it the highest level since late 2020. According to Digiconomist's Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, the world's largest crypto network consumes close to 77.8 TWh each year.
The latest data estimate how much of the total energy consumption of the Bitcoin network is consumed by Chile in a year. Additionally, Bitcoin's mining activity generates about 37 megatons of CO2 per year, which can be matched to the total greenhouse gas emissions from New Zealand.
Much larger numbers were estimated in another study. According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, Bitcoin consumes about 110.53 TWh, which is comparable to the total annual energy consumption of the Netherlands.
Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, recently said that the energy consumption of the Bitcoin network uses "incomprehensible amounts of electricity". Stating that the POW consensus of the network will only increase the power usage of Bitcoin; the entrepreneur believed that the primary problem was "it can never get better with design".
The more successful Bitcoin is, the higher the price; the higher the price, the more competition for bitcoin; and thus more energy for me.
Hoskinson said Cardano consumed 6 GWh of energy due to the stock proof consensus. This includes the likes of Polkadot and Algorand blockchains.
However, Meltem Demirors, CoinShares' chief strategy, shared another perspective. After all, he believed that using energy was not a bad thing and said:
What we have here is that people and other industries trying to decide what is a good energy use and other industries are much more opaque, while bitcoin is incredibly transparent in its energy use.
SENDING AND STORING EMAILS USES ENERGY. STILL, WE DO NOT ATTEMPT THAT E-MAIL IS BAD BECAUSE IT CONSUMES ENERGY.
Moreover, the study also noted that massive energy consumption is not actually an issue, as most Bitcoin mining facilities are located in regions that are heavily dependent on coal-based energy, such as China. Perhaps the transition to renewable energy will not only reduce Bitcoin's carbon footprint, it will also push other industries to look for more environmentally friendly and optimal methods.
