I knew that Bitcoin mining was unsustainable due to the amount of electricity that it used; what I had not realized is that the same criticism can be levelled due to the amount of water used in the same process:
"Bitcoin-mining operations slurp up billions of gallons of water globally each year. Estimates vary, but the annual footprint is projected to surpass 591 billion gallons of water this year, according to an article published last week in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Reports Sustainability."
How much is 591 billion gallons of water?
"For comparison, New York City residents and businesses consumed 403 billion gallons in 2022, according to the U.S. Geological Survey."
The water use also adds to the energy use:
"Miners use water directly to cool their computer servers and indirectly by running both computers and air conditioning systems powered by gas- and coal-fired power plants that require cooling water. Some of the cooling water used by power plants evaporates and is no longer available for anything else."
The reason so many resources are required?
"Bitcoin mining requires massive amounts of energy. During mining, computers generate random numbers in hope of getting the correct one required to unlock fresh bitcoin. The greater the computing power, the higher the chance that a company or individual running a mining operation can harvest new bitcoins."
Another complication is that any changes would have to be approved by all Bitcoin owners, which makes any kind of change challenging:
"Bitcoin could change its software to require fewer calculations to mine its currency, significantly reducing its need for both electricity and cooling water, according to Paolo Natali, principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute, a nonprofit environmental research and consulting organization. But since bitcoin isn't owned by a single company, that change would require nearly all of the parties involved in its maintenance to agree on a change."
Take care
David
David Chandler
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Bitcoin Mining Fuels Concern Over Water Use
By Eric Niiler
December 13, 2023
The Wall Street Journal
Late Edition – Final
A3
