Quote from: geschtonkenflapped on February 11, 2017, 12:25:20 PM

Quote from: davis196 on February 11, 2017, 11:57:25 AM

Quote from: geschtonkenflapped on February 11, 2017, 10:32:19 AM

Has anyone done any serious studies on electricity consumption due to cryptocurrency related activities like mining? Possibly with comparison between different currencies and feasibility of maintaining such consumption? Is there an argument to be made for or against them in the context of global warming?

Electricity consumption has nothing to do with the global warming.Electricity production creates the global warming.If we produce electricity with green techonologies ,the consumption of such energy won`t be a problem.
Anyway,after 21M bitcoins the mining will stop and this issue will disappear.

Sorry, bad wording. To consume, we must produce, and green technologies aren't close to covering our current consumption, let alone future consumption. Hypothetically we could get to the stage where green technologies take over and then there would be no problem. However, this is not the current case and most likely won't be for a long time. So until that point, and with our current non-sustainable production of electricity used for bitcoin related activities, is bitcoin big enough to do damage?

The end of mining won't happen for at least 100 years if at all, and in that time some serious damage could already be done.

It's not so simple an equation but is enough to demonstrate the real world demand and supply of electricity. The fact is, there are already places in the world where green power is outstripping use, and in some countries governments buy back this extra electricity.

For political and economical reasons, there is still a push for conventional non sustainable energy. Coal, oil is still profitable to the privileged, still at dire cost to the underprivileged.