Guellord MbusaBitcoin (BTC) mining is becoming more and more environmentally friendly. Although this is not shared by everyone, but this is what the last report from the Bitcoin Mining Council. Long accused of being an ecological disaster, the mining industry is now proving itself in terms of sustainable development.
The BMC's recent Q4 survey confirms year-over-year improvements in the sustainable energy mix and technological efficiency of cryptocurrency. According to the same report, more than 58,9% of the network is now supplied with renewable energy.
What is the Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC)?
The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) is a voluntary global forum of mining companies in the bitcoin(BTC) and other companies in the crypto industry.
It is the largest forum in the world which brings together the majority of miners in the Bitcoin industry. For several years, the forum has been engaged in an exercise of transparency with regard to the energy consumption of the mining of bitcoin(BTC). Last January, the forum announced the results of its fourth quarter 2022 (“Q4”) survey focused on three metrics: electricity consumption, technological efficiency and sustainable energy mix.
How is the BMC report conducted?
The BMC has collected data from more than half, 48,4% to be more precise, of the global Bitcoin network. Data from its 45 mining companies represented 107,7 exahash (EH) in the sector. The results of this survey show that BMC member mining companies and other companies participating in the survey currently use electricity with a sustainable energy mix of 63,8%.
Based on this data, it is estimated that the sustainable power mix of the global bitcoin mining industry is now 58,9%. Which means it increased by around 5% year over year. More precisely from the second quarter of 2021 to the fourth quarter of 2022. Performance that makes it one of the most sustainable industries in the world.
Additionally, year-over-year, the technological efficiency of the global Bitcoin network is estimated to have increased by 16%, from 19,3 EH per gigawatt (GW) in Q2 2021 to 22,4 EH per GW in Q2 2022. This efficiency gain reaffirms the fact that as the Bitcoin network continues to grow, it will become even more efficient over time.
Moreover, the publication of this data represents the seventh quarterly publication of the BMC since its creation in May 2021 with the support of certain large Bitcoin mining companies as well as that of MicroStrategy and its CEO, Michael Saylor.
More than 59% of electricity used comes from renewable energy
Indeed, the recent BMC report highlights that the bitcoin (BTC) mining industry “uses an insignificant amount of the world's energy, approximately 0,16%”. Its share in global CO2 emissions is even more negligible, around 0,10%. Bitcoin (BTC) mining is therefore not the ecological disaster that people want to present to us. The simple reason being that the electricity used by BTC miners comes almost 59,5% from renewable energy. The computing power allocated to securing the Bitcoin network has soared by 73% year over year. On the other hand, its energy consumption only increased by 41%.
This gap is explained by a 23% increase in the energy efficiency of the mining equipment. Moore's “law” predicts that the density of transistors in microprocessors doubles every two years thanks to technological progress.
Indeed, mining machines use 5 nm chips today and, by 2027, 1.4 nm chips if we are to believe the world leader TSMC:
« In the second quarter of 2022, the Bitcoin network's hashrate and associated security improved by 137% year-over-year, while energy consumption increased by only 63%. We saw a 46% year-over-year increase in efficiency due to advances in semiconductor technology, the rapid expansion of North American mining, the exodus Chinese and global adoption of sustainable energy and modern bitcoin mining techniques. » said Mr. Saylor.
As of July 19, Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) organized a presentation to discuss these results. To learn more about the presentation, the video is available here.
Who are the members of the BMC?
The Bitcoin Mining Council is a voluntary and open forum of Bitcoin mining companies and other engaged Bitcoin industry companies, such as mining pools. It promotes transparency, shares best practices and educates the public on the benefits of Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining. All stakeholders in the bitcoin ecosystem are represented.
We find among the members Argo Blockchain , Arkon Energy , Atlas Mining , atNorth , Bit5ive LLC etc.
The Bitcoin Mining Council was created with the aim of transparently communicating data from the mining industry and promoting the trend towards the use of green energy.
Final word
From the above, the debate about bitcoin (BTC) mining and its impact on the environment is still ongoing. Recently, the campaign led by GreenPeace USA "Change the Code" seeks to convince the bitcoin community to change the code to make it less energy-intensive. The GreenPeace campaign had minimal impact because the figures put forward by the Bitcoin Mining Council were claimed by bitcoin defenders.
While some media predicted a grim outcome for the planet from bitcoin mining, the industry is turning out to be much more environmentally friendly.
With a power supply of more than 59,5% clean energy, the bitcoin mining industry becomes by far the most ecological on a global scale. At the rate things are going, there is hope that mining will progress towards 100% renewable.
Better yet, we also see that beyond good environmental practice, mining farms can also have positive externalities by boosting the regions where they are installed. This is particularly the case of the Gridless mining company, which manages to use the energy produced in excess while allowing neighboring villages to benefit from electricity at a lower cost. It is also the case of farmers who manage to reduce methane thanks to bitcoin mining.
See also:
- This is how a small bitcoin mining farm is improving the economy of African villages
- The story of the Irish farmer who mines bitcoin using his cows
- GAMA's new minor assistance program
For more information, please visit https://bitcoinminingcouncil.com/
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