{"id":242875,"date":"2019-11-22T03:34:14","date_gmt":"2019-11-22T08:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/?p=242875"},"modified":"2019-11-30T18:05:24","modified_gmt":"2019-11-30T23:05:24","slug":"bitcoin-mining-is-dangerous-just-not-as-bad-as-its-been-made-to-look","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/bitcoin-mining-is-dangerous-just-not-as-bad-as-its-been-made-to-look","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin Mining is Dangerous. Just Not as Bad as It\u2019s Been Made to Look\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

At this point, the effects that Bitcoin mining has had on the environment are rather extensive. There have been several reports on how this activity disrupts locations where it is based, and several countries have made legislation to block its prevalence out of concern for their ecosystems.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/squiremining\/status\/1182138436872032256<\/p>\n

However, a new report is indicating that while there is a lot that Bitcoin miners will need to do to achieve environmental stability, its effects on the environment aren\u2019t actually as bad as many people believe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

False information about carbon emissions\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

According to a\u00a0<\/span>study<\/span><\/a>\u00a0conducted by Susanne Ko\u0308hler and Massimo Pizzol from Aalborg University in Denmark, several reports that have heavily criticized Bitcoin mining concerning its effects on the environment have made several \u201cblanket assumptions\u201d concerning the activity and its level of carbon emissions. Kohler particularly claimed that none of these previous studies tried to arrive at precise data concerning Bitcoin’s carbon emissions, and this lack of legitimate information has left a wide vacuum in terms of facts and their representation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOn the one hand, we have these alarmist voices saying we won\u2019t hit the Paris agreement because of Bitcoin only. On the other hand, there are a lot of voices from the Bitcoin community saying that most of the mining is done with green energy and it\u2019s not high impact,\u201d she said in an interview with New Scientist.\u00a0<\/div><\/div>\n

The report points out that previous related studies have assumed an equal level of carbon emissions from cryptocurrency mining centers across the world, when this isn\u2019t true. K\u00f6hler claims that previous assumptions have pegged the level of carbon emissions from Bitcoin mining at about 63 megatonnes per year, while the actual levels stand at about 17.29 megatonnes per year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report focuses on China<\/a>, a country which, at a point, controlled about 70 percent of the world\u2019s entire hash power and, per the report, is responsible for about 47 percent of the entire carbon emissions from mining. For this country, the report notes that emission levels in China vary based on locations, while the coal-backed Inner Mongolia produces a lot of carbon emissions, the Sichuan region, which is largely hydro-fuelled and has a stockpile of renewable energy, produces fewer emissions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still more to be done\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

As state earlier, the fact that Bitcoin carbon emissions have been largely misrepresented is a great thing, especially as t proves that the “dark side to Bitcoin” argument has a little chink in its armor- at the very least, from a factual perspective.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Bitcoin mining produces nearly 23 metric tons of CO2 per year \u2014 the same amount as Las Vegas, with Bitcoin standing between Jordan and Sri Lanka in the emission table, says new study. #Bitcoin<\/a> #Globalwarming<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/Z5dnVXnGpG<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/7NC7bvQjhq<\/a><\/p>\n

— The Hindu Briefcase (@THBriefcase) June 18, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n