25 Oct 2021
The Bitcoin network runs on renewable energy
Since bitcoin miners have economic incentives to utilize renewable energy, their sustainable power mix is almost three times higher than the world average.
Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) recently published "Global Bitcoin Mining Data Review: Q3". BMC is a data-sharing forum with some of the world's largest mining companies as members.
BMC estimates the sustainable power mix* for bitcoin mining to be 58%, compared to 22% for the world.
The sustainable power mix in bitcoin mining has increased from 37% to 58% in 2021. China's mining ban had a massive impact since China's coal-powered miners were forced out of operation.
Bitcoin miners are incentivized to use sustainable energy since it's cheap. Generation sites for renewable energy are often remote, inaccessible to most energy consumers. Generally, the closer to the generation site, the cheaper the power. Miners access sustainable energy at extremely low costs by locating themselves close to the generation sites. Because of these mechanisms, the sustainable power mix of bitcoin mining is likely to keep increasing.