The power used to mine Bitcoin (BTC) is already much higher this year than last year. The 2021 total is forecast to exceed 91 TWh.
Used an estimated 67 TWh so far
This is evident from research conducted by Bloomberg Bitcoin’s energy consumption has already surpassed the cryptocurrency’s total energy consumption in 2020.
“The Bitcoin network is estimated to consume approximately 67 TWh (terawatt hours) of electricity in 2020. Total consumption has already surpassed this in 2021.” Bloomberg. “By the end of this year it looks like it will have consumed 91 TWh of energy. This is as much as Pakistan.” So added the report.
Bitcoin has long been under fire for its energy needs, which critics view as too high a price to pay for the cryptocurrency.
The pros of Bitcoin point to the alleged benefits of the crypto. For example, they suggest that the asset can serve as a hedge against inflation. They even point to the environmental damage that traditional currencies and financial institutions have caused over the years.
Bitcoin’s energy consumption
Bitcoin’s energy consumption is often calculated in TWh. This is a unit of energy equivalent to one trillion watts per hour. It is often used to track the annual consumption of entire countries.
However, this figure is not a constant. As Bloomberg reported, annual consumption for 2020 was 67 TWh. When the research of Bloomberg was published, it was 91 TWh. Today that is already 97.70 TWh, and still rising.
That’s a lot of energy, but again, the crypto’s energy needs are in constant flux. Earlier this year, China’s crackdown on crypto mining spelled bad news for miners but a potential win for Bitcoin’s environmentally conscious critics.
In June of this year, the crypto consumed 68 TWh. This was very different from previous figures of about 141 TWh, which Bitcoin was consuming before China’s mining ban went into effect.
But as the recent surge to 95 TWh shows, the crypto’s declining energy needs may have been short-lived. Before China banned mining, almost two thirds of all Bitcoin mined in the country. Since then, mining companies have migrated to other jurisdictions such as Kazakhstan.
Measurements of the carbon footprint
To know exactly how big Bitcoin’s carbon footprint is, you need to convert the energy consumed into a figure of greenhouse gas emissions.
The best available data from Cambridge University suggest that only 39% of Bitcoin’s energy consumption comes from renewable sources. That means 61% is fueled by carbon-intensive energy.
Based on those figures,
That means Bitcoin has more greenhouse gases emissions than if you burned 4.6 billion liters of gasoline, drove 8.9 million cars for a year, or drove 165 billion kilometers in one car (enough to go to Pluto more than 20 times).
What do the defenders of Bitcoin say?
Some of Bitcoin’s most ardent defenders have tried to paint Bitcoin as green as possible. The Bitcoin Mining Council was established earlier this year to promote “transparency” across the industry. This council shared a presentation in July that claimed that 56% of the electricity behind the crypto came from renewable sources.
De Coucil cited his own “analysis, assumptions and extrapolation” as the sole source behind the calculation. It collected research data from mining companies that accounted for less than a third of the global hash power behind Bitcoin. In addition, response to that survey was voluntary. The miners with the most environmental impact could therefore skip the process altogether.