Bitcoin consumes 0.48% of the world's energy (5 photos)

One of the main arguments of opponentscryptocurrency is a mention of the huge amount of electricity required to mine new digital BTC coins and keep the bitcoin network operational. The myth of the threat of a global environmental catastrophe posed by cryptocurrency has been repeatedly refuted by experts. Another analysis, in a somewhat humorous format, was conducted by students of the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, at the University of Cambridge.

Using open sources, researchersthe total consumption of the Bitcoin network is estimated to be around 123.99 terawatt hours (TWh). This value is comparable to the consumption of electricity by many fairly large and developed countries. In the ranking of energy consumption, bitcoin takes pride of place between the Netherlands (110.68 TWh) with the United Arab Emirates (119.45 TWh), and Norway (124.13 TWh) with Argentina (125.03 TWh).

In the total world electricity production, the shareBitcoin network accounts for a modest 0.48%, and 0.56% of total electricity consumption. Experts note that 65% of the bitcoin network capacity is located in China. In the structure of energy consumption by the bitcoin network, the share of cheap renewable, environmentally friendly energy is constantly growing.

However, the researchers calculated that if allthe energy needed for the bitcoin network was generated at the "dirtiest" coal-fired power plants, the emissions into the atmosphere amounted to 58 million tons of carbon dioxide, which is about 0.17% of global emissions.
The report mentions a few fun facts.So the energy consumed by bitcoin per year is enough to keep all US household appliances permanently on (but inactive) for 1.8 years.

This amount of energy would also be enough toboil all teapots in the UK for 27 years, or all teapots in Europe (with the UK) for 4.1 years. The needs of the University of Cambridge itself for electricity, the annual consumption of bitcoin could cover for 689 years.

Following recent announcements of possible admissionbitcoin when buying Tesla and the possible acceptance of cryptocurrency for direct payment through Mastercard cards, last Sunday bitcoin set another historical maximum, and its price for a short time exceeded 49 thousand dollars.