I'm under the impression that whenever the power consumption of PoW gets brought up that one factor is largely ignored: Grid energy storage.
power plants produce more than they consume ON PRPOSE to prevent brown outs/black outs during sudden surges of power utility.
EG they know at superbowl halftime, alot of people microwave some popcorn or make coffee or turn on a houselight to go to the bathroom.. this means there are known times of power utility growth. but not enough time to just flick on an extra generator at a seconds notice. and so power plants process excess power to cop with known and also some unknown scenarios
imagine power plants produce an excess of 15-20% above consumption. because its impossible to give power after its needed. but also its impossible to take the power back if its unused. and so this 15-20% excess is essentially 'waste' electric.
mining farms dont buy the domestic allowance power (normal consumption) instead they make year long deals/contracts that they will buy 1-10% of the excess. which power stations love. after all it would have gone to waste anyway
also although "china" as a country does have coal power plants. asic farms decided to set up in regions not near to coal power plants and in regions of hydro/solar/geothermal. so the CO
2 numbers are way lower than what you may think.
those are actually pretty interesting facts. thanks for sharing!
I've heard that googling something requires the same ammount of heating water for tee 3 times.