Estimates Say Mining Uses 31 TWh Per Year

We all know how energy intensive mining is, conceptually. We feel the heat coming off our machines. We think about how to get more cooling. But I was struck by magnitude of the number when I first read it. I first saw it in an article from Grist:

“The total energy use of this web of [mining] hardware is huge — an estimated 31 terawatt-hours per year. More than 150 individual countries in the world consume less energy annually. And that power-hungry network is currently increasing its energy use every day by about 450 gigawatt-hours, roughly the same amount of electricity the entire country of Haiti uses in a year.”
…
“ By July 2019, the bitcoin network will require more electricity than the entire United States currently uses. By February 2020, it will use as much electricity as the entire world does today. This is an unsustainable trajectory. It simply can’t continue."

link - http://grist.org/article/bitcoin-could-cost-us-our-clean-energy-future/

I think it make senses, initially, to be concerned about this. I work in renewable energy, and I have been reading how globally, the carbon footprint of our civilization's energy needs has not declined in the last decade. We have seen accelerating deployments of renewable energy, and countries passing laws to incentivize energy efficiency, and companies aggressively pursuing energy efficiency for cost reductions. And yet, there has not been a dip in our carbon footprint, because our total use continues to increase. It sounds like we are not responding to the magnitude of the climate change crisis.

Perhaps mining will place such a strain on the electric grids of the world, that rapid renewable energy deployment will be the only solution that makes sense.

I hope that the profound economic and political shift embedded in the promise of blockchain, will also induce the renewable energy revolution we need in order to stay below the critical threshold of 2 degrees C global average temp increase.