Bitcoin to use 0.5% of world’s electricity by end of 2018

[Suppressed]

Bitcoin to use 0.5% of world’s electricity by end of 2018
Bitcoin’s burgeoning electricity demands have attracted almost as much attention as the cryptocurrency’s wildly fluctuating value
Last Published: Thu, May 17 2018. 07 26 PM IST
https://www.livemint.com/Money/3wU3b1IuMYZTl47zYkkcmN/Bitcoin-to-use-05-of-worlds-electricity-by-end-of-2018.html

London: Bitcoin, one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, currently uses almost as much power as Ireland does, and could be consuming about 0.5% of the world’s total electricity by the end of this year, a study has found.

[...]

The estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of the bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month. By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much as 7.7 gigawatts—as much as Austria and 0.5% of the world’s total consumption.

[...]

[Suppressed]

Trying to track down sources.

I hate the leftist Independent, but https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/bitcoin-mining-energy-use-electricity-cryptocurrency-a8353981.html


https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption

[thackney]

Bitcoin production now consumes more energy that Switzerland.

https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption

[Suppressed]

And for the northern hemisphere, that waste heat now won't be going to productive use, but will be piling onto the A/C requirements.

[thackney]

And for the northern hemisphere, that waste heat now won't be going to productive use, but will be piling onto the A/C requirements.

That is going to be the case nearly all the time in the Southern hemisphere as well.  Did you mean something else?

[Suppressed]

That is going to be the case nearly all the time in the Southern hemisphere as well.  Did you mean something else?

@thackney
I mean that it's going into winter now in the Southern Hemisphere.  Over the next several months, much of the waste heat will at least be decreasing the base heating needs (and A/C) of the buildings containing ASIC farms.

[thackney]

@thackney
I mean that it's going into winter now in the Southern Hemisphere.  Over the next several months, much of the waste heat will at least be decreasing the base heating needs (and A/C) of the buildings containing ASIC farms.

I think any significant ASIC farm is using continuous cooling year found.  A guy at the plant where I work has dedicated a room to bit mining.  It never needs heating even when temps got to freezing.

[Suppressed]

I think any significant ASIC farm is using continuous cooling year found.  A guy at the plant where I work has dedicated a room to bit mining.  It never needs heating even when temps got to freezing.

Yes, but it will mean fewer degree-days of cooling.

And, you're forgetting adjacent (or, better, overhead) locations.  I'm in a building where heating comes from the room next door...I often don't need to have the heat on at all.  In the summer, though, we have to have the A/C on.  So the winter months mean there's less electricity use.