27 Sep 2021
Report: Bitcoin’s energy consumption is insignificant globally
A report by NYDIG found that Bitcoin's energy consumption is insignificant on a global scale and that its net positive effects on the world population are greatly underestimated.
As per the report, Bitcoin represented only 0.04% of global primary energy consumption, 0.2% of global electricity generation, and 0.1% of global carbon emissions in 2020.Moreover, bitcoin miners are increasing their efforts to reduce their carbon emissions, seeking renewable energy and using otherwise wasted energy, such as flared gas.Mainstream media reports on Bitcoin's energy consumption commonly involves a heavy financial privilege bias: As per the report, bitcoin adoption tends to be higher in countries with more restrictions on economic freedom (see chart).While a significant share of the capital invested in bitcoin remains American, European, or Chinese, Bitcoin's largest per-capita penetration is in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Southeast Asia. In other words, users are attracted to bitcoin at least partly due to the failure of local institutions.