US bitcoin is as dirty as 6 million cars

According to research released on Friday by environmental organizations, the carbon footprint of the US bitcoin business is growing at an alarming rate and is currently comparable to the annual emissions from six million cars.

In order to protect the environment, the organizations encouraged the US government to take into account outlawing new mining activities.

According to Jeremy Fisher, a co-author of the paper and an energy expert with the nonprofit Sierra Club, emissions from the energy-hungry sector may make it harder to combat climate change.

We're at a turning moment, he declared. "We're attempting to decarbonize quickly... Some of that advancement could potentially be undone by bitcoin mining.

According to a calculator from the Environmental Protection Agency, the industry's carbon footprint from mid-2021 through 2022 was 27.4 million tonnes, which is close to the annual emissions of six million cars and three times that of the largest US coal plant.

A system of power-hungry computers is used in bitcoin mining to compete for new currency while also verifying purchase history. Based on a recent White House study, only 3.5% of the world's bitcoin mining took place in the United States in 2020; today, that percentage is close to 38%.

The organizations encouraged US states to take into account prohibiting fresh mining ventures. A law to halt any new fossil fuel-powered activities in the state was passed this year by the New York Assembly.

According to trade associations for the bitcoin business, the cryptocurrency market consumes between 0.09 percent and 1.7 percent of all US energy, or less than other heavy industries.

More than half of the power utilized by its miners comes from renewable sources, according to data published by the Bitcoin Mining Council, which represents several significant participants in the industry.

An inquiry for comments received no response from the council.

According to Elliot David of Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol, a business that collaborates with miners to encourage the use of sustainable energy, "Bitcoin is a technology with a lot of positive and bad climate potential."

He told the Thomson Reuters Foundation, "It's a matter of perspective; if you're going to compare it to other industries, like cement for example, then its relatively clean.

However, in order to address the climate catastrophe, every industry must participate.

A mining boom

The report, co-authored by the environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice, draws information from press reports, testimony from activists around the country, public papers, utility records, regulatory filings, and financial disclosures.

A coalition of environmental organizations started a campaign earlier this year to persuade Bitcoin to switch from the "proof-of-work" algorithm to the "proof-of-stake" algorithm, which uses less energy.

Since mining was outlawed in China, "we've seen a reasonably big surge in mining here in the US fairly quickly," said Mandy DeRoche, an attorney with Earthjustice who represents clients looking into how to oppose nearby mining activities.

Bitcoin in green?

Many miners claim that by stabilizing and funding the production of renewable energy, they help energy systems.

Several miners in Texas have signed contracts with suppliers of renewable energy and opted for flexible consumption to balance demand.

Some claim to be environmentally friendly; publicly traded CleanSpark claims that more than 96 percent of its energy is carbon-free.

According to Zach Bradford, CEO of CleanSpark, "it's not simply that miners can be more productive and use clean energy for their operations. "But that bitcoin mining can actually speed up the switch to low-carbon electricity."

However, according to Lane Boldman, executive director of the environmental organization Kentucky Conservation Committee, bitcoin mining has moved in the opposite way in Kentucky.

She claimed that many of these operations would serve as support for subpar or unethical energy projects, just as it did in this case.

The paper also looks at what it argues are spurious environmental claims made by the business.

These include using renewable energy "offsets" or carbon credits as a cover for mining cryptocurrencies, according to Fisher of the Sierra Club.