China’s ban on Bitcoin (BTC) mining has even affected the environment. Since the onslaught against the industry, the processing of the network has increased carbon emissions, as miners have had to resort to energy sources generated by fossil fuels, leaving behind the renewable energies that they used to use in Chinese territory.
So claims a report published in the specialized magazine Joule, which highlights that mining has become “dirtier” after the Chinese ban. In figures, the generation of renewable energy used for the processing of the blockchain it fell to 25% in August 2021, from 42% reported in 2020.
According to Alex de Vries, one of the authors of the study, Bitcoin mining generates more than 65 megatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) per year. This, he explained, is more than Greece produced in 2019.
De Vries said that, after the migration of miners to other countries such as Kazakhstan or the United States, these began to use other types of fossil materials with greater amounts of carbonthat is, more polluting and less friendly to the environment.
After Bitcoin miners were expelled from China, they were forced to migrate to countries like the United States and Kazakhstan, and unfortunately, this led to a reduction in the use of renewable energy sources in the network. The bottom line is that the carbon intensity of the network has increased.
Lex de Vries, a researcher at Joule magazine.
As is known, Bitcoin mining is an activity that, through specialized machinery, is in charge of processing the blockchain network, a task that is executed by finding and solving the blocks of the chain. This activity is carried out with electrical energy, which, as already mentioned, can use sources that are friendly or not friendly to the environment.
In this sense, the researcher highlighted that mining has increased its carbon use by nearly 17% since China banned the activity in May 2021. At that time, they claimed to seek CO2 emission neutrality for the next 40 years.
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It pollutes, but it is not a threat to the environment
Although it is true that migration has caused an increase in pollution, according to what this report explains, it is also true that the activity does not represent a threat to the environmentaccording to another study that faces the one presented by Joule.
This report, reviewed by CriptoNoticias in September 2021, showed that even costing USD 10 billion for each unit, Bitcoin mining would not exceed 1% of total energy consumption.
In fact, they suggest that after the migration of miners, carbon emissions into the atmosphere fell from 581 gCO2/kWh to 501 gCO2/kWh, a drop of just 12%. This might not be directly related to the expulsion of the miners.
Thus, they point out that although Bitcoin mining is polluting, it is not in the exaggerated way. as is often pointed out in the traditional media.
It is known, for example, that in regions such as Latin America, mining is being carried out using renewable energies, such as hydroelectric power. Also, there are projects to mine with solar energy, as this medium has reported.
If we talk about the United States, which right now concentrates the highest hash rate in the world, there are companies that are dedicated to activity with nuclear energy, which is zero polluting.
Such generations are friendly to the environment, as has been proven through studies. This shows that right now there is a mixed use of energies to process the Bitcoin networkan activity that guarantees safety and keeps the ecosystem alive, without affecting the environment as importantly as that generated, for example, by automobiles or oil plants.