For decades, Bitcoin mining has had a huge impact on the environment. The ASIC machines required for the action demands a huge amount of electricity, which poisons the atmosphere with an overload of toxic greenhouse gases.
Thankfully, this story can have a happy ending.
The industry is well on its way to becoming more environmentally friendly, which all boils down to a focus on energy efficiency. Here are 5 ways Bitcoin mining can become more energy efficient, and how it’s doing so already.
1: Crypto Mining Chips
Samsung recently announced the launch of novel mining chips designed to be a staggering 45% more efficient than any of their predecessors. These 3-nanometer Bitcoin mining chips were designed with a focus on energy efficiency, helping miners keep doing what they do best without making their carbon footprint any bigger than it already is.
2: Green Energy Sources
The biggest problem in the Bitcoin mining industry is the need for fossil fuel power. Thankfully, we can drastically reduce the sector’s harm to the environment by switching to more renewable sources of energy such as wind, solar, geothermal, and hydropower to name a few.
3. Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
Unlike the traditional Proof of Work (PoW) Bitcoin mining model, its PoS counterpart speeds up transaction speeds while being more energy-efficient all around. PoS requires less computational power to solve maths equations. It also splits the right to validate transactions amongst different validators depending on the token percentage locked into each. PoS also provides protection against fraud.
4. New & Improved Mining Machines
2023 brought brand-new energy-efficient Bitcoin mining machines, with the Bitmain AntMiner D3 being one of our favourites. With an energy consumption rate of only 1350W, ASIC machines like this draw far less power without compromising performance or output.
5. Eco-Friendly Mining Pools
We say “pools” as a plural, however there is only one green mining pool in the world right now – which is PEGA Pool. We offer a significant fee reduction for miners that are using renewable energy. We also plant trees in an effort to offset the Bitcoin mining industry’s CO2 emissions.
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This is just the beginning, and the future looks bright for the concept of energy-efficient Bitcoin mining. The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index revealed in 2022 that the cryptocurrency’s greenhouse gas emissions are nowhere near as high as they once were, having dropped from almost 60 metric tons of C02 at the end of 2021 to around 48.8 a year later.
Industry experts admit that crypto can go green and clean up its dirty carbon footprint once and for all. The shift to a more renewable Bitcoin mining industry is well underway, and who knows where we’ll be in another year, and another, and another.