Bitcoin mining is expected to account for 0.9 percent of world carbon emissions by 2030
Bitcoin mining, according to the New York Digital Investment Group, will account for less than 0.4 percent of world carbon emissions over the next decade.
“Bitcoin’s energy usage will remain below 0.5 percent of world total over the next decade” as per recent analysis by the New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG).
This month, NYDIG released its ‘Bitcoin Net Zero’ study report, which found that, despite rising prices, Bitcoin’s energy usage and carbon emissions will not arise in the future years.
The research, written by Castle Island Ventures partner Nick Carter and NYDIG founder Ross Stevens, looks at how the network’s carbon emissions may vary in the future as a result of price changes, mining difficulty, and energy usage.
Even if the price of BTC skyrocketed by 2030, the study’s most optimistic scenario concluded that Bitcoin’s emission would still be a small percentage of the world total, concluding:
“Even in our most aggressive, high-price scenario, in which Bitcoin hits $10 trillion by 2030, its emissions are just 0.9 percent of global total emissions, and its energy spend is only 0.4 percent of worldwide total energy.”
Based on data from 2020, the research forecasts Bitcoin mining’s future growth. The researchers assessed Bitcoin miners’ historical power use as a function of network hash rate and equipment efficiency.
Bitcoin consumed 62 terawatt-hours (TWh) of power and created 33 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020, according to the authors, accounting for only 0.04 percent of world energy consumption and 0.1 percent of global carbon emissions.
The authors claimed that the carbon footprint of Bitcoin mining will be “insignificant in global terms” by 2020.
BTC mining now consumes 101 TWh per year or 0.45% of global power. The Bitcoin network, according to Cambridge University, consumes more energy than the Philippines as a whole.
However, according to the university, Bitcoin uses less energy than all of the refrigerators in the United States combined, and just 4.6 percent of the total energy used for home air conditioning globally.
The research also stated that the future possibilities for “decarbonizing” Bitcoin mining are promising, stating:
“As renewable energy development develops and nations try to decarbonize their electrical systems, the intensity of Bitcoin’s carbon emissions (and, with it, Bitcoin’s absolute carbon emissions) will drop over time.”
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