China’s ban on bitcoin mining was an obvious blow to the sector. As miners shut down operations, the area was deemed the “mining capital” of the world. This resulted in a drop in the bitcoin hash rate. This was due to concern about the environment and electricity consumption.
After the Chinese miners left China, they needed to start a business and get electricity. Mining farms can be extremely energy-intensive. The new report states that the new sources of energy are mostly non-renewable, in comparison to China’s miner use. In other words, bitcoin mining’s energy impacts have increased over the past months.
Bitcoin Mining Carbon Footprint is Now Worse
China has banned bitcoin mining for less than a decade and its effects already have energy implications. Following the ban on bitcoin mining, it was assumed that miners would shift to renewable energy sources in order not to repeat the mistakes made. A new study shows that this isn’t the case. The environmental effects of mining bitcoins have only worsened.
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China is well-known for using hydropower, which is renewable energy, extensively. The country’s miners had also used significant amounts of this energy in their mining operations. Even so, there was enough carbon emissions from mining to make it a big problem. Joule journals has proven that miners haven’t necessarily increased renewable energy usage.
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This study shows that bitcoin miners use less renewable energy than before the ban. This number reached 42% at its highest in August. Renewable energy usage in mining dropped to 25% within seven months.
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Bitcoin mining continues producing significant quantities of carbon dioxide annually. Bitcoin mining has been producing more carbon dioxide than ever before, with over 65 million tons annually. Comparatively, only 57 megatons were produced by Greece in 2019, which produced more than 65 megatons. This indicates that miners can produce more CO2 per capita than other countries.
A lot of the miners that left China have now moved to countries where energy sources are largely produced by burins “hard coal” which produces more pollution. New research has shown that mining is now less beneficial to the environment. The country’s carbon intensity already increased 17%.
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