The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawattsas much as Austria and 0.5% of the worlds total consumption.
https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.htmlWith mining facilities looking to be more and more electrically efficient with the coming years, I feel they will be pushing our electrical technology to tiers that will help us on a global scale.
I know that bitcoin mining consumes a lot of power but what makes it consumes more electricity is that it needs to be powered so that it can run smoothly. Mining facilities have powerful units and it is not just one but many units running at the same time, let us include the ventilation. Those units needed to be in a cool place so that it will not over heat. Mining facilities are not just in one place, there are many around the world and they mine more than they can mine before. Let us add those individual miners from their homes,it also consumes a lot of electricity.