Last year, U.S. cryptocurrency mining consumed more energy than all computers

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According to a graph that has been recently circulating online, the U.S. crypto mining energy consumption surpasses that of all the computers in the U.S. It’s also greater than all the fans and pumps, greater than all the freezers, clothes washers and dishwashers.

If we just focus on the computers, we see that Bitcoin mining in the U.S. consumed more energy than all of the nation’s computers combined, that is, each and every computer. And that is a very large number.

And to note is that cryptocurrency mining in the U.S. used 50 billion kWh, almost as much as all the televisions combined.

New DAME tax against digital mining proposed in the U.S.

The White House study on the proposed Digital Asset Mining Energy (DAME) excise tax cites the graph above to illustrate how much energy the pointless endeavor truly consumes. In addition to using a lot of energy and generating a lot of carbon emissions, cryptocurrency enterprises can also drive up energy costs for regular people in the neighborhood. The government believes that the tax is necessary so they can extract an income from “digital assets whose broader social benefits have yet to materialize.”

According to the proposal, businesses would be subject to a tax equal to 30% of the price of the power they use. The tax would be put into effect the next year and phased in gradually over three years at a rate of 10% a year to achieve the desired 30% rate by the end of 2026.

The council said on Tuesday that:

Currently, crypto mining firms do not have to pay for the full cost they impose on others, in the form of local environmental pollution, higher energy prices, and the impacts of increased greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.

The DAME tax motivates businesses to begin better accounting for the harms they cause to society. As per the council, communities of color and low-income areas are disproportionately affected by the pollution that comes from producing power.

A department of the president’s executive office, the Council of Economic Advisers is in responsibility of providing the president with economic advice.

According to the council,

Cryptominers’ intensive and frequently unpredictable power consumption can also increase electricity prices for consumers and can increase risks for local electrical grids—straining equipment, causing service interruptions, and creating safety hazards.

The following is the graph that showcases U.S. electric consumption, based on type:

The graph’s estimates for cryptocurrency mining were made using data on both the world’s use of crypto energy and the percentage of Bitcoin and Ethereum mined in the United States up until ‘The Merge’ (opens in new tab). In fairness, the graph illustrates the range that may be possible for the entire figure as an estimate, so it could potentially be as low as 30 billions of kWh utilized (which still places it above all those computers) or as high as 60 billions of kWh.

The maximum then places it roughly in the same range as the total power used by all of the nation’s lights in 2022.
Every single item on that list has at least some advantages, whether commercial or just sociological, but neither Bitcoin nor Ethereum make up for the harm they do—even if the latter isn’t even currently mined—in any way.

It’s unsustainable, and ideally harsh levies like the DAME levy will make it unprofitable to create pointless digital assets, bringing an end to the sector. Perhaps someday it will prove to be worth all the harm it has caused.

New projects that can improved sustainability

We often hear about the effects of crypto on the environment, but rarely about eco initiatives in the crypto field. A notable exception is a project that’s currently undergoing a presale, Ecoterra.

Ecoterra is a new green cryptocurrency project that aims to leverage blockchain technology to encourage people to recycle. Rooted in the desire to save the planet, the project has been started to tackle the worsening effects of climate change by encouraging people to take measures such as tree plantation, waste management, and cleanups. Ecoterra aims to remove the bottlenecks that make people unwilling to take eco-friendly measures by using blockchain tech to not only educate people about green initiatives but incentivize them to recycle.

Ecoterra is a ‘Recycle2Earn’ app that has the potential to benefit the environment by rewarding those who recycle with cryptocurrency. The app will feature a marketplace for recycled materials and carbon credits – but how far can this project reach? Ecoterra is currently undergoing its presale and raising funding at a rapid speed.

What are the Benefits of Ecoterra?

There are three categories of benefits that Ecoterra will bring – for individuals, for businesses, and for everyone.

Benefits for Individuals

People would be able to use the Ecoterra app to capitalize on their recycling measures and earn ECOTERRA tokens. That will make individuals feel more rewarded as Ecoterra tokens have more benefits than regular fiat money.

Staking

People will be able to stake ECOTERRA tokens and earn passive income in the form of APYs generated from the revenue streams.

Buying carbon credits

Individuals will have complete access to the secondary marketplace through which they can buy carbon credits. Ecoterra will likely become one of the few ecosystems to allow individuals to interact with the carbon credit marketplace – a space that has largely been walled off for corporations only.

Accessing Educational Content

Ecoterra’s educational content will be different from the standard eco-friendly blogs that one reads online. They will contain research papers and other media that help people take actionable and profitable decisions to make the environment better.

Getting NFT rewards

Those who actively engage with the community will get NFT rewards. Engaging here means adding more content to the educational platform or adding value to them. The more positive activity a person does on the platform, the more their impact score will be. A higher impact score will make them eligible to receive NFT rewards.

Visit Ecoterra Presale

Ecoterra Tokenomics

The entire ecosystem of Ecoterra is powered by the token of the same name – ECOTERRA. ECOTERRA is an ERC-20 token, and from what we have covered so far, it has the potential to be one of the most eco-friendly cryptos of 2023.

Ecoterra has very interesting tokenomics. Half of its native token’s supply has been dedicated towards the presale – which is 1 billion in total. These have no vesting requirements.

20% of the tokens have been dedicated to the development of the ecosystem – and it has 500 million tokens dedicated to it.

10% of tokens are dedicated to its upcoming crypto exchange listings, 10% is for marketing, 5% has been dedicated to the team, and the remaining 5% is for corporate adoption.

Ecoterra is currently available as a multi-staged presale, which means you have the potential to make gains from price appreciation before it gets listed in phase 2 of its roadmap. Click the link below to check out the official website yourself and invest in this green crypto that will likely be 10x this year.

Visit Ecoterra Presale