Ken Sim claims Bitcoin is "great for the environment" because, hypothetically, one *could* use clean energy to provide a bit of the massive amount of energy needed for mining. I feel like even a 5th grader can see the flaw in that logic but, concerningly, he seems to actually believe it. - ThreadSky

mihai-cirstea.bsky.social • 80 days ago

Ken Sim claims Bitcoin is "great for the environment" because, hypothetically, one *could* use clean energy to provide a bit of the massive amount of energy needed for mining.

I feel like even a 5th grader can see the flaw in that logic but, concerningly, he seems to actually believe it.

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shanathalas.bsky.social•80 days ago

Reminds me of something...

yvrcyclist.bsky.social•80 days ago

Doesn't @kensimcity.bsky.social know how much energy is required to "mine" Bitcoin? Or does he want to use so much of BC's hydro capacity for Bitcoin that we will have to use fossil gas in our homes?

schizanon.bsky.social•79 days ago

How much energy is used to mine gold?

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

I'll take your premise (although there is data to suggest otherwise).
It still would not be a Bitcoin problem, but a grid problem. Just keep adding green to the grid and the problem resolves.

mihai-cirstea.bsky.social•80 days ago

What data?

No one will mandate that Bitcoin only uses green energy. Vast majority isn't / won't be. And what green energy is used only takes it away from other better uses.

Even in an imaginary scenario where all Bitcoin energy is new AND green (will never happen) it's still only net zero.

avennite.bsky.social•80 days ago

Sir. Do you have christmas lights up? Are you not concerned by the fact they provide zero real world utility and consume copious amounts of power?

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

The % of green energy used in Bitcoin is already higher than the grid. Bitcoin is so sensitive to price of energy that it uses mostly energy that can't be used for anything else
If you are interest in a dive
https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/627aa615676bdd1d47ec97d4/65b004ac744cd4c6abb8934e_UN%20Paper%20FINAL%20.pdf

https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/627aa615676bdd1d47ec97d4/66b123f315203b1865697f9e_BPI%202024%20Policy%20Report%20Aug%205_2024.pdf

mihai-cirstea.bsky.social•80 days ago

That's again all speculative. There are a million studies that show that, right now, Bitcoin produces as much real carbon pollution as many small nations (for mining and transactions) and it's only increasing. I'm not interested in imaginary utopia scenarios.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18686-8

mihai-cirstea.bsky.social•80 days ago

This isn't even getting into the incredible amount of e-waste generated, and the land and water use issues.

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

Again, you are arguing from the conclusion. If Bitcoin is pointless, any amount of energy is gonna be too much.
If it is useful, then the market dictates how much is too much.
Bitcoin ALREADY uses more green energy than the grid, making it better than basically any other industry as far as emissions

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

Also, shorter read.
https://batcoinz.com/bitcoin-by-energy-source/

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

In case you are actually curious https://bsky.app/profile/doublespends.xyz/post/3lchapyssxc2k

mihai-cirstea.bsky.social•80 days ago

Those are all highly speculative dream scenarios published in pay-to-play journals.

We don't need to imagine, we actually have current data on the environmental impacts of Bitcoin, and it's terrible.

https://unu.edu/press-release/un-study-reveals-hidden-environmental-impacts-bitcoin-carbon-not-only-harmful-product

dav1rus.bsky.social•80 days ago

One of the documents I send you on another note is a take down of that very bad research by the UN.

doublespends.xyz•80 days ago

To be fair, in 5th grade I probably would have not understood this either.

jasonhutchison.bsky.social•80 days ago

Nobody that's serious can believe such an energy intensive industry is good for the environment. Just last week they were saying heat pumps will overload the system and now they want to encourage bitcoin? Incredibly faulty logic.

netmojo.ca•79 days ago

*Using* electricity is not what is bad for the environment. Adding greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere is the problem. Some forms of electricity *generation*, such as coal plants, do that.

Bitcoin is helping us transition to cleaner energy sources faster. See:

https://bsky.app/profile/netmojo.ca/post/3ld2qixyuq22b

netmojo.ca•79 days ago

Mike, that is not why Bitcoin is great for the environment.

Firstly, it is helping accelerate the adoption of renewable energy by providing revenue to renewable generators before they are connected to the grid, cutting the time to pay off the investment by more than half.

https://bsky.app/profile/netmojo.ca/post/3lcf4dei7tc2z

netmojo.ca•79 days ago

Secondly, Bitcoin mining‘s flexible & fast demand response helps grid operators balance the erratic power from renewable sources, and provides revenue for energy that they would otherwise have to pay to curtail.

netmojo.ca•79 days ago

Thirdly, the quick demand response on the baseload allows grid operators to instantly supply more energy to the grid as needed, instead of firing up natural gas plants, allowing them to be decommissioned.

netmojo.ca•79 days ago

Lastly, and most importantly, Bitcoin mining is directly reducing methane emissions from remote oil wells, hog farms, and landfill sites. Methane is ~80x worse than CO2 for trapping heat in the atmosphere — which is the problem we face with regards to the environment.

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