Scientists have raised a new alarm over climate change, this time showing concern over Bitcoin’s carbon footprint. Scientists are gravely concerned over Bitcoins impact on the earth’s global warming. The report posted on nature.com extrapolates data that currently exists on Bitcoin’s electricity consumption along with projections of electricity consumption should Bitcoin be largely adopted in the future. Bitcoin was recorded to have had a 0.033 percent of the 314.2 billion cashless transactions. According to the report, even if Bitcoin follows a slow median growth rate it could become the equal of the global total of cashless transactions in about a century.
If this happens, total emissions of Bitcoin usage would easily cross the 2C threshold within 22 years this is if Bitcoin’s adoption rate is similar to those of the slowest globally adopted technologies, but in case of faster adoption rates, the threshold could be reached in 11 years. The report assumes that fuel types used to generate power today remain constant even in future years. The scientists did not delve into predicting the fate of Bitcoin with regards to adoption but went on to predict that miners would seek low cost power supplies for their activities to make economic sense, proposing that electricity decarbonozztion could help mitigate bitcoin’s carbon footprint.
The report states that should electricity consumption remain high, more efficient hardware could help check the carbon footprint. The report also proposes simple modifications to the hardware sytem including adding more tranactions per block or reducing the difficulty or duration required to resolve the proof of work equation inorder to slash electricity consumption by Bitcoin. The issue of carbon footprint is a big concern not only to environmentalists but also to various governments. Despite the report posted on nature.com, not all energy experts agree with the notion that energy consumption is a bad thing for Bitcoin.
A report published 2 months ago, disputes the notion that high energy consumption is a weakness for Bitcoin. The report puts more weight on where the energy is produced and how the energy is generated. The report further asserts that electricity production can increase while also maintaining a minimal impact on the environment. G7 nations have had several meetings addressing the issue of global warming with nations commiting to reducing their carbon footprints for the sake of the environment. It remans to be seen whether the suggestions by scientists when it comes to reducing Bitcoin’s carbon footprint will hold water and save the environment.
