Bitcoin, the world’s most secure blockchain by hash rate, has increased its sustainable energy balance by 6.2% over the past two years, notes David Batten, venture capitalist at ClimateTech, in a Feb. 20 tweet.
Bitcoin’s sustainable energy base is growing
At this rate, David explains, the growth of Bitcoin’s sustainable energy base is one of the fastest in the industry and is an “impressive” achievement for any platform or major player in any demanding sector.
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Here are 4 new charts for bitcoin and energy#Bitcoin increased its sustainable energy balance sheet by 6.2% per annum since January 2020
* Growth rate 6.2% faster than any major industry
* 52.6% A sustainable mix is ⬆️ any major industry— Daniel Batten (@DSBatten) February 20, 2023
Accordingly, Bitcoin has a sustainable energy balance of 52.6%, up from around 32% in mid-June 2020. A sustainable energy balance is a metric that shows the rate at which a platform or industry is using sustainable and renewable energy to operate. Renewable energy sources cannot be exhausted, but some of them can also be unsustainable.
However, if sustainable renewable energy sources such as wind and hydro power are used to supply energy without harming the environment, the industry using this system will drastically improve its sustainable energy balance rating.
Over the years, hydro, solar and wind sources have proven adequate. They are widely used by Bitcoin miners to power energy-hungry mining rigs.
Bitcoin miners rely on renewable energy sources
Given David’s findings, bitcoin miners have gradually increased their sustainable energy sources to power energy intensive mining rigs.
Notably, it has been observed that Bitcoin emissions have been on a downward trend since the Chinese government banned cryptocurrency mining in its jurisdiction in mid-2021.
The Chinese authorities then claimed that cryptocurrency mining operations increased their country’s emissions, in direct contradiction to their efforts to gradually become more dependent on renewable energy sources. A strict ban on cryptocurrency and bitcoin mining operations and their goal of reducing their carbon footprint followed their signing of the Paris Agreement in 2015.
In addition to declining emissions, David stated that at the same time, the emission intensity of Bitcoin is declining. Emissions intensity measures emissions per kWh. This figure has declined in recent years as more miners opt for renewable energy sources.
Bitcoin works with the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. It relies on a community of miners who operate rigs to validate transactions and secure the network.
At the time of writing on February 20, Bitcoin has hash rate 311.6 EH/s and 39.16T difficulty. Mining pools such as Foundry USA and AntPool dominate the BTC mining sector. The top two pools have a combined hashrate that exceeds 50% of the total.
Credit : www.newsbtc.com
