According to research, the bitcoin network currently consumes as much electricity as the whole of Ireland, and by the end of the year this figure will be 0.5 percent of all electricity consumed in the world.
Economist Alex de Vries, who calculates the Bitcoin energy consumption index on his Digiconomist blog, published an article on May 16 in the scientific journal “Joule”, in which he provided an expert assessment of Bitcoin’s energy needs. This need is related to the computing power required to mine bitcoins, and it can be an issue in terms of environmental implications. “Half a percent is already a lot. Especially when compared to the conventional financial system, this growing demand for electricity is definitely not going to help us solve our climate problems,” says Vries.
If the network's rapid growth at the end of 2017 had continued, Bitcoin would have used all of the world's energy production by 2020. It may not have come to this, but Vries believes the grid could well use 5% of the world's electricity in the near future.
To reduce the impact of such energy consumption, some states in the United States are implementing restrictions on bitcoin mining. Alex de Vries hopes that his calculations will help shape policy more effectively in this area.
“I think everyone agrees on minimal energy consumption. But you need to think about what to do when these figures become significantly higher,” says Vries.
According to https://www.independent.co.uk
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