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Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions?
Critics decry cryptocurrency mining as a huge waste of energy, while proponents insist on claiming that it is a green industry. Is Bitcoin mining really worth the energy it consumes? The high power consumption of cryptocurrency mining has become the latest global flashpoint. In this paper, we define...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier
2023
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10126855/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37113776 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15099 |
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author | Liu, Feng Wang, Linlin Kong, Deli Shi, Chen Feng, Zhefu Zhou, Jiashen Liu, Jiaqi Li, Zhibin |
author_facet | Liu, Feng Wang, Linlin Kong, Deli Shi, Chen Feng, Zhefu Zhou, Jiashen Liu, Jiaqi Li, Zhibin |
author_sort | Liu, Feng |
collection | PubMed |
description | Critics decry cryptocurrency mining as a huge waste of energy, while proponents insist on claiming that it is a green industry. Is Bitcoin mining really worth the energy it consumes? The high power consumption of cryptocurrency mining has become the latest global flashpoint. In this paper, we define the Mining Domestic Production (MDP) as a method to account for the final outcome of the Bitcoin mining industry’s production activities in a certain period time, calculate the carbon emission per unit output value of the Bitcoin mining industry in China, and compare it with three other traditional industries. The results show that Bitcoin mining does not always have the highest when compared with others. The contribution of this paper is that we give a new perspective on thinking whether Bitcoin mining is more efficient to make more profit, in terms of the same amount of carbon emissions per unit compared to other industries. Moreover, it could even be argued that Bitcoin may present an opportunity for some developing countries to build out their electrical capacity and generate revenue. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10126855 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-101268552023-04-26 Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? Liu, Feng Wang, Linlin Kong, Deli Shi, Chen Feng, Zhefu Zhou, Jiashen Liu, Jiaqi Li, Zhibin Heliyon Research Article Critics decry cryptocurrency mining as a huge waste of energy, while proponents insist on claiming that it is a green industry. Is Bitcoin mining really worth the energy it consumes? The high power consumption of cryptocurrency mining has become the latest global flashpoint. In this paper, we define the Mining Domestic Production (MDP) as a method to account for the final outcome of the Bitcoin mining industry’s production activities in a certain period time, calculate the carbon emission per unit output value of the Bitcoin mining industry in China, and compare it with three other traditional industries. The results show that Bitcoin mining does not always have the highest when compared with others. The contribution of this paper is that we give a new perspective on thinking whether Bitcoin mining is more efficient to make more profit, in terms of the same amount of carbon emissions per unit compared to other industries. Moreover, it could even be argued that Bitcoin may present an opportunity for some developing countries to build out their electrical capacity and generate revenue. Elsevier 2023-04-01 /pmc/articles/PMC10126855/ /pubmed/37113776 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15099 Text en © 2023 Published by Elsevier Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Research Article Liu, Feng Wang, Linlin Kong, Deli Shi, Chen Feng, Zhefu Zhou, Jiashen Liu, Jiaqi Li, Zhibin Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title | Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title_full | Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title_fullStr | Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title_full_unstemmed | Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title_short | Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
title_sort | is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions? |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10126855/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37113776 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15099 |
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