High Electricity Consumption in Generating Bitcoin; Does Bitcoin Consume More Heavily than Switzerland?

Have you heard about high electricity consumption in the processes of generating Bitcoin? According to new estimations, electricity consumption for generating Bitcoin is more than its consumption in Switzerland. These estimations carried out at Cambridge University imply very high electricity consumption to generate Bitcoin. Currently, Bitcoin global network consumes about seven gigawatts of electricity; that is, in a year this amount of electricity consumption reaches 64 TWh, while Switzerland consumes 58 TWh annually. Does this issue raise some concerns? Do Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies make problems for the environment? Should the worry about energy be changed into one of the most basic cases considered about the world of cryptocurrencies?

How Is High Electricity Consumption to Mine Bitcoin?

The statistics rendered here show that Bitcoin allocates 25% of electricity consumption to itself in the world. To put it simply, if we want to show this amount in an example, we should say that it equals to the electricity that all-electric kettles in the United Kingdom consume in 11 years. Bitcoin miners around the world consume a high amount of electric energy. This energy is spent on launching computer hardware to support Blockchain and confirm payments in its infrastructure. Of course, there is no doubt in electricity consumption for the processes related to Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but it should be accepted that all figures currently offered about the degree of its high consumption, merely are estimations which cannot be considered as decisive. 

Can Estimating Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Be Counted On?

As it was stated before, accurate statistics cannot be offered from consumed electricity, which is needed for generating Bitcoin. Anyway, it can range from 22 to 150 TWh. Generally, high electricity consumption in generating Bitcoin is clear, and considering the fact that using cryptocurrencies is on the rise and there is the possibility of doing various transactions every day, a solution should be found. Environmental problems can be one of the disadvantages which will negatively influence the world with new technologies.
Every new technology which comes into being has some advantages and disadvantages for itself. The presence of critics who don’t neglect probable disadvantages always helps the growth and comfort in using that technology.
If positive aspects of cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology are supposed to be addressed, undoubtedly there will be some likely problems in the future. So it would be better to think about probable problems and losses from the very beginning. The issue of attending to environment, energy consumption, leaving much carbon in the world due to fuel consumption and the like are among the subjects which cannot be ignored.
 

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