The Bitcoin Mining Council has released its latest quarterly report, providing a 2022 update.
It seems that securing the Bitcoin network requires an insignificant amount of energy, just 0.17% of the energy generated worldwide.
The ecological impact is even more trivial since Bitcoin is only responsible for 0.11% of CO2 emissions. That is 11% of the 1% out of the 34.8 billion tons of CO2 emitted each year by humanity.
More and more energy companies are joining forces with mining companies, with the specific aim of extinguishing methane flares. The result is a net reduction equivalent to 63% in CO2 emissions over 20 years.
Bitcoin mining currently avoids the emission of 841,216 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year. Bitcoin could even go carbon negative, as miners take to oil and gas drilling rigs.
According to satellite data, each year, more than 150 billion cubic meters of methane are burned in flares. That is enough to cancel 14 times the current Bitcoin’s carbon footprint.
Efficiency and Fading Clauses
Bitcoin’s energy consumption has only increased by 25% despite a 45% increase in hashrate year over year. This difference is explained by the 16% increase in the efficiency of the machine fleet that ensure the network.
ASICS efficiency has increased by 5,800% within an eight-year timeframe. The Bitcoin network spends an average of 46 joules to generate a trillion hashes. The best machines have an efficiency of 21.5 J/TH.
The BMC estimates that this efficiency will further divide by 24 over the next eight years.
It is worth noting the addition of a new section in the report on suppression clauses. That is clauses that force miners to stop their machines on demand. Currently, 2.5 GW of power can be returned to the grid during peak electricity consumption.
In total, 14 BMC member miners returned 1,280 GWh in 2022 alone, and probably more, given that BMC miners only account for half of the global hashrate.
This power subject to load shedding mainly affects North America (2.1 GW). It can be compared to a battery increasing the number of energy storage units installed in the United States and Canada (8.3 GW) by 25%.
The exodus from Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan was, in October 2021, the nation that hosted the second-largest global hashrate (18%). However, in January 2022, it had already fallen to 13% and now represents only 6.4%.
This development is extremely important given that 88% of Kazakhstan’s electricity comes from the combustion of fossil fuels. In other words, this exodus has necessarily reduced Bitcoin’s carbon footprint.
This is more than what the BMC reports since this organization assumes that the energy mix of non-BMC miners (50%) is similar to that of the United States. Therefore, the Bitcoin network may be closer to 65% green energy than 60%.
According to Daniel Batten, a ClimateTech investor, author, analyst, and environmental campaigner, the network should see its share of green energy increase by 4% each year over the next three years.
By Audy Castaneda
