Silvercrest Asset Management reposted this
Bitcoin and "Energy Consumption": Are We Asking the Wrong Question? What if the often-referenced question of "how much energy" the Bitcoin network uses is actually less useful to understand how bitcoin interacts with our energy systems? From balancing electrical grids with large interruptible demand loads, to economically bootstrapping new renewable energy generation, to harnessing otherwise-wasted or stranded energy in several parts of Africa, I argue that we should look deeper into related, but fundamentally different, questions: - What kind of energy is the Bitcoin network consuming, especially as it grows? - When, or at what times, are bitcoin miners using that energy within each individual and dynamic energy system? - Bitcoin mining uses energy, but what externalities and second-order effects occur (and are they positive or negative) when it is added to a given energy system and the society it serves? #innovation #energy #technology #sustainability