By Bitcoin 杂志 - 1 年前 - 阅读时间：5 分钟
是时候扭转局面了 Bitcoin 环境辩论
Bitcoin’s infamous energy criticism is misguided as mounting research shows the exact opposite of those claims are true.
这是自 2016 年以来一直关注该领域的乌克兰-法国加密货币行业观察员和教育家 Marie Poteriaieva 的一篇观点社论。
Bitcoin is routinely treated as an 环境贱民： 它的 能源消耗 跟踪非常简单 快速标签 as “anti-ecological.” This statement is wrong on many levels, but public opinion is rarely nuanced, and politicians often have little to lose by attacking Bitcoin on ecological grounds — at a (comparatively) small expense of alienating crypto enthusiasts they can position themselves as planet-saviors to a larger audience.
This approach won’t last long though. More and more voices are rising to contest this immature presentation of Bitcoin, its mining, and its importance for the world. These arguments go in three main directions:
- Energy consumption of Bitcoin versus the traditional monetary system it is intended to replace.
- Green mining and its potential to boost green energy development around the world.
- Multi-purpose use of miners, recycling their waste heat or capturing flare gas.
菲亚特系统能耗
The notion of “a lot” only makes sense in comparison. In the case of Bitcoin energy consumption, the most relevant comparison is with the fiat money system (and not with some small European country, as some clickbait articles may quote).
而 Bitcoin is pretty much self-sufficient, in the fiat world its job is done by a plethora of different organizations in charge of issuance, distribution, management, bookkeeping and payment services.
A Galaxy Digital 2021 年研究, an asset management firm specializing in cryptocurrencies, looked deeply at only four metrics of the fiat world — branches, servers, ATMs and card networks' data centers — and estimated that the banking system consumes over 263 TWh yearly.
更详细的研究， 最近出版 作者：巴黎咨询公司 Valuechain Technology Ltd. 的 Michel Khazzaka，梳理了法定货币更多方面的能源消耗：纸币和硬币的印刷和铸造、ATM、运输中的现金、电子销售点的现金、银行卡支付、银行办公室、银行员工通勤、银行 IT 和银行同业。 结果令人震惊：传统货币部门——不包括金融和保险——每年将消耗约 4,981 TWh。
Bitcoin 能源消费
Bitcoin network hash rate — the collective computational effort miners are deploying to mine a block — is public information, which makes it possible to calculate Bitcoin electricity consumption by estimating how much energy is needed to produce it.
The most popular resource on Bitcoin energy consumption is the 剑桥 Bitcoin 用电量指数 (CBECI), which estimates electricity use by “simplistic weighting of profitable hardware,” a method relying heavily on electricity cost estimate and is thus not particularly accurate. CBECI currently estimates Bitcoin yearly energy use at 120 TWh.
上述研究由 价值链提出了不同的方法：计算矿工节点及其效率，即每个哈希消耗的瓦数和每个矿工的发布日期（假设非 ASIC 挖矿是边际的，不应再考虑）。 这种方法给出了另一个数字 88.95 TWh。
Bitcoin is thus estimated to consume 2-56 times less energy than the fiat system it is an alternative to.
Bitcoin As A Way To Greener Energy
一些研究，例如由 Bitcoin Mining Council, have pointed out that the exceptionally high percentage of renewables in the Bitcoin energy mix — 58% — is considerably more than any other major industry.
这并不奇怪，因为 Bitcoin miners are mobile，他们自然会去能源最便宜的地方——这在许多情况下意味着去绿色能源，这些能源不能有效地储存和运输额外的能源。
Bitcoin mining is also flexible，这意味着矿机可以在能量波动后立即打开和关闭，这在绿色能源的情况下可能是相当大的。
These two qualities allow Bitcoin mining farms to be installed in some of the world’s most remote places, like a dam on the Amazon or a solar farm in West Texas, making them more profitable and 鼓励更多绿色能源发展.
这种激励一致性的好例子包括 两个水力发电厂 built on the edges of Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The initial investments were enough to build the plants, but not enough to get electricity to people, who continued using charcoal and cutting trees in Virunga, precipitating its deforestation … until a Bitcoin mining company from Paris came. Now based in Switzerland, 英国地质调查局 已经在大坝上安装了采矿设备，使它们盈利，并允许它们为其余的运营提供资金，包括必要的基础设施。
碳中和和负碳采矿
矿工不断创新，不仅在他们的芯片尺寸（更小的芯片等于传输数据所需的能量更少），而且在允许他们捕获和重新利用他们产生的废热的技术方面，使采矿成为事实上的 碳中性.
加拿大薄荷绿 使用矿工 为威士忌酒厂加温水，以及 一个专案 to heat buildings in Vancouver is underway. Norwegian Kryptovault recycles the waste heat to dry timber, and soon — seaweed. Sweden’s Genesis Mining uses its miners to heat up greenhouses. Similar initiatives are popping up all over the world, and projects like The Block’s “custom silicon” rigs will only increase the number of ways a Bitcoin miner can be used.
更重要的是， Bitcoin mining can be 负碳，即有效减少排放到大气中的温室气体量。 它可以通过 捕获燃烧的气体 — a by-product of oil production, which is often too expensive to transport, so it is simply flared into the atmosphere, emitting harmful air pollutants like black carbon, methane and volatile organic compounds. Oil producers all over the world are being increasingly told to curb the gas flaring, and Bitcoin mining is a clever way to do it.
得克萨斯州和蒙大拿州的一些较小的石油生产商已经与矿业公司合作捕获燃烧的天然气，但这是 ExxonMobil and its pilot Bitcoin mining program in North Dakota 这无疑将这种做法放在了地图上。
人类需要能源来生存和发展，而不是试图限制能源的使用，让我们回到烛光，我们应该致力于发展能源效率和可持续性。
Bitcoin uses 2-56 times less energy than the fiat system, and the Lightning Network can allow it to scale as needed without spending much more.
Bitcoin mining is already the greenest industry, and it can incentivize many more green energy developments around the world.
Bitcoin miners can also be used for a number of non-mining endeavors, including actually preventing more greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
现在轮到法定系统证明其生态足迹的合理性了。
这是 Marie Poteriaieva 的客座文章。所表达的意见完全是他们自己的，并不一定反映 BTC Inc. 或 Bitcoin 杂志。
原始来源： Bitcoin 杂志