Is there more to bitcoin mining than carbon emissions?
Abstract
Critics decry cryptocurrency mining as a huge waste of energy, while proponents insist on claiming that it is a green industry. Is Bitcoin mining really worth the energy it consumes? The high power consumption of cryptocurrency mining has become the latest global flashpoint. In this paper, we define the Mining Domestic Production (MDP) as a method to account for the final outcome of the Bitcoin mining industry’s production activities in a certain period time, calculate the carbon emission per unit output value of the Bitcoin mining industry in China, and compare it with three other traditional industries. The results show that Bitcoin mining does not always have the highest when compared with others. The contribution of this paper is that we give a new perspective on thinking whether Bitcoin mining is more efficient to make more profit, in terms of the same amount of carbon emissions per unit compared to other industries. Moreover, it could even be argued that Bitcoin may present an opportunity for some developing countries to build out their electrical capacity and generate revenue.
批评者谴责加密货币采矿是对能源的巨大浪费，而支持者则坚持声称这是一个绿色产业。比特币挖矿真的值得它所消耗的能源吗？加密货币挖矿的高耗能已经成为最新的全球热点问题。在本文中，我们定义了采矿业国内生产（MDP）作为核算比特币采矿业在一定时期内生产活动最终结果的方法，计算了中国比特币采矿业的单位产值碳排放量，并与其他三个传统行业进行了比较。结果显示，与其他行业相比，比特币采矿业的碳排放量并不总是最高的。本文的贡献在于，我们给出了一个新的视角，思考在单位碳排放量相同的情况下，与其他行业相比，比特币挖矿是否能更有效地赚取更多利润。此外，甚至可以说，比特币可能为一些发展中国家提供了一个机会，以建立他们的电力能力并创造收入。