Why is it so important, to change the way we mine

Why does bitcoin use so much energy and what problem does it cause

Mining (from the mining – development of subsoil) is the process of processing transactions in the system of digital currencies, in which records of current crypto transactions (blocks) are added to information about past transactions (blockchain). This happens when the miner closes the block.

While you are reading this article, countless video cards and ASIC processors around the world are doing sophisticated calculations, generating multi-valued codes – hashes, in other words, mining – mining cryptocurrency. They buzz, make noise and consume energy for the sake of the harmonious operation of the entire Bitcoin system, the main difference of which is decentralization. The digital currency is not controlled by banks, the state, or any third party, and the database is distributed among the network participants.

And so that there are no mistakes and repeated sales in transactions that are not monitored by any financial institution, all records are carefully checked, fit into blocks, blocks are lined up in chains. All this together constitutes a continuous sequence of interconnected blocks – a blockchain system that stores information about transactions in cryptocurrency. For the fact that miners provide their expensive equipment for counting other people’s bitcoins, they receive a reward that can be converted into ordinary money.

This seemingly profitable activity also has an unpleasant seamy side: when a mining farm appears in a house, electricity costs increase many times over. In America, hidden farms in basements and apartments have been discovered several times. Typically, tenants themselves complained about them, tired of power outages and increased energy bills.

In Iran, due to the same problems, mining was banned for four months starting in May 2021. The fact that mining of cryptocurrency is costly for the environment is much talked about in the United States. “Mining bitcoin requires such a lot of computing activity that it consumes more energy than entire countries. One of the easiest and least destructive things we can do to combat the climate crisis is suppress ecologically wasteful cryptocurrencies, ”Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said this summer.

Can bitcoin be harmless to energy sources?

Bitcoin these days is a topic that everyone and even older people know about at least once, but have heard this word. And in the world of youth, this word can be heard from every speaker. Since in order to extract all the necessary resources (the same mining industry), renewable energy sources are now used, with the help of which people can postpone the terrible situation when there will be no resources and energy on the planet. That is why those who are engaged in the extraction of crypto coins and the creation of programs for this business are now determined to use these same energy sources.

We are all people and we have one planet, so it is very important to monitor your future and resources, which are not endless. So this topic is very important for promotion to the masses.

How the mining affects our planet

The issue of recycling e-waste is indeed a pressing issue. We have a lot of outdated equipment even without mining, it is massively taken to landfills – for example, to African countries. We need more civilized approaches to the recycling and reuse of electronic waste. Mining is developing faster than processing and disposal technologies are developing. New equipment appears, and the old remains unclaimed. It is necessary to prevent that, with the development of new technologies, everything that has been developed before ends up in landfills.

There is also an economic factor. Everything has to do with the price of the cryptocurrency. Although it is irregular, it continues to grow. The collapse of this entire system was predicted repeatedly, but, as we see in the power consumption of mining, everything continues to grow. If Bitcoin falls, people won’t give it up overnight. But when something else comes to replace bitcoin, other algorithms, what will happen to the equipment that was used for mining, is a big question.

So far, the main problem in mining is very high power consumption. The power consumption of mining can be compared with the consumption of some countries: for example, Argentina. Mining is a technology that constantly increases its capacity and grows quite intensively. At the same time, it is possible to create a more energy efficient solution, but so far this has not happened.

The dirtiest cryptocurrency is Bitcoin. But other cryptocurrencies are not very clean either. They all have a carbon footprint. The problem is also that the energy sources that mining uses are still dirty.

If bitcoin will go green, then these people will win

The Chinese company Lenovo has offered to help develop environmentally friendly equipment cooling systems. It is assumed that they will consume less energy, which will have a positive impact on the environmental situation in the country.

Chinese companies are striving to make mining more environmentally friendly also due to threats from the authorities. The Chinese government is concerned about the damage caused by mining and therefore from time to time proposes to completely ban mining cryptocurrency in the country.

In London, miners created EcoHashes. It is a cryptocurrency mining project that is working to make all mining economical, efficient and environmentally friendly at the same time.

For this, the project relies on renewable energy sources. Wind turbines, solar panels and hydro generators satisfy the needs of the company.