As bitcoin increases, so does the electricity consumption. In order to mine Bitcoin an enormous amount of electricity needs to be generated.
Key Points
Bitcoin seems to consume more electricity than 20 or even more countries in Europe.
The british researchers from the Power Compare platform have discovered that the amount of electricity required for Bitcoin mining is incredible high.
Overall, the electricity required is higher than 159 countries consume. Just to name a few: Ireland, Croatia, Serbia, Slovakia and Iceland and many more.
In the map below, countries that consume more energy than the Bitcoin mining process are highlighted in gray, and those that consume less are colored with orange.
In Africa, for example, only three countries use more energy than Bitcoin mining process does: South Africa, Egypt and Algeria. The map below provides more details.
Bitcoin’s annual electricity consumption is estimated at 29.05 TWh, or 29,000,000,000 kWh. That’s about 0.13% of global energy consumption.
If those who mine Bitcoin would create their own autonomous state, it would be ranked 61th in the world in terms of energy consumption.
Bitcoin value is on the rise and it seems Bitcoin mining has risen 30% over the past 30 days and shows no signs of slowing down. If it grows at the same rate, by October 2018, Bitcoin’s global electricity consumption may be higher than UK electricity consumption.
Being more and more difficult to find, the current currency becomes more valuable and if its popularity grows, speculation and artificial inflation will increase.
In July, consumption was estimated at 14.54 TWh. In just a few months, with the increase in value, consumption has doubled and this this rate who knows what will happen.
Is there still room to think about global warming and the effect this mass consumption of electricity has on our planet or how it will effect global economies in the long run?
That’s what we’re here to find out!
