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.
Even if all 21M coins are mined, that doesn't mean mining will stop
Mining refers primarily to finding new blocks which is essential to keep the Bitcoin network ticking. Miners will just earn from fees, not from the block reward as of now. Regarding electricity consumption vs production, if there were no consumption, there would obviously be no production either. Though I don't think that mining has any effect on global warming. In fact, I'm heavily inclined to think that global warming (if there is any, in the first place) has nothing to do with humans and their activity