Research

Original Report by Earthjustice Acknowledgements First, the positives. Earthjustice have done a generally good job of avoiding the sensationalism of GreenpeaceUSA. This is a more thoroughly researched report. It is even occasionally backed up by evidence and citation. It looks as though the writer of the report has highlighted issues with Bitcoin mining that they

How to use this article: Since the original GreenpeaceUSA article uses many of the arguments that are traditionally used by opponents of Bitcoin to argue that it is a net-environmental negative, this article serves as a useful counterpoint to share with any environmentally conscious person who may have encountered negative environmental messaging around Bitcoin, and

Summary Using data from our BEEST model (Bitcoin Energy and Emissions Sustainability Tracker), and comparing to publicly available data of other industry sub-sectors, we charted sustainable energy mix over the last four years across a range of industries. Based on the data, Bitcoin mining is currently the highest user of sustainable energy (52.6%) across sub-sectors,

Executive Summary We find that the most oft-cited emissions calculation (CCAF’s estimated emissions) for the Bitcoin network overestimates true emissions by > 100%. The emissions numbers is skewed strongly to the upside because each of the factors that multiply together to produce this number are themselves overestimated Data as of 9 June 2023 CCAF calculation

Acknowledgements: Mason Jappa – Blockware, the team at Luxor and Fred Thiel – Marathon for making their data, models and methodologies available Executive Summary For several years the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) has been the most quoted source for Bitcoin energy and power consumption estimates. However, our analysis of CCAF’s Bitcoin power and

Overview: From our research it would appear that whenever a disruptive technology come into being, it is attacked. Such was the case for the radio, the book, the bicycle and more recently the Internet. This attack often seems to stem from fear of the unknown (remember the fear that computers would “take all our jobs

Overview In previous literature, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) postulated that the major energy source used by the Bitcoin network was coal. In my Feb 2023 article in Bitcoin magazine, I suggested that this conclusion would need to be revisited as it was based on a dataset that did not include off-grid mining (as

Now that we have a new model (BEEST), based on the CCAF model, with known exclusions added in, we can start asking this model some intriguing questions. Right now, a lot of people are asking me a lot of questions based on the model. So this article is a wandering path through a number of

The most familiar sound I have heard all morning is sirens and the sound of neighbours making makeshift repairs. This wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to be our grandchildren’s issue not ours. This  was supposed to be an issue that would hit the developing world, then Australia and Europe. But not us. Not now.