We have miners that are distributed all over the world, as location of the miner is not constrained by the protocol, miners would migrate to areas where electricity is cheaper. Therefore the specific CO2 production will vary with miners based on:
- proportion of electricity obtained from the grid and independently generated
- What the average CO2 production is from their local electricity grid
- What the average CO2 production is from their independent electricity generation methods.
This data is hard to get without having some form of survey done on each one. And as since BTC is decentralized, it is difficult to survey everyone.
Factors to consider are:
- Since the last major bull run their has been a halving in the BTC reward (12.5btc to 6.25btc). The next halving is predicted to occur in 2024. This means that the profit a miner would have to spend on electricity would be less.
- The peak hash rate since the 2017 peak was approx 55 EH/s. It is currently approx. 126 EH/s
- Mining Rigs would have become more efficient meaning more hashes per KWh. I do not know the eff of state of the art mining rigs.
There are some insightful studies done in the realm of understanding BTC electricity consumption:
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https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption/-
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214629620302966?via%3DihubSo, I guess the question is, what is the feasible price of bitcoin when considering other objective functions such as environmental sustainability?
Your topic is very interesting!
The modern economy is based on making a profit. The modern economy does not aim to solve environmental problems. In the modern capitalist system, world economic crises arise due to falling energy consumption.
Hence, based on this, "energy money" (bitcoins) can help the modern economic system get out of the crisis. To solve environmental problems, you do not need "energy money" (petrodollar, bitcoin), but "environmental money". Let me give you an example. I have improved the situation with the environment, therefore I can issue my own money.
This is "environmental money".