The sharp irruption of cryptocurrencies is not has only shaken the political, economic or technological world, but has aroused debate in other branches of the society.
One of them is how cryptocurrencies affect the environment . The great concern of the 21st century... ¿ What energy expenditure does this generate? cryptocurrency ? How do they affect the planet? How do digital currencies impact the society? Do they have a positive or negative effect?
Just to get you started and to give you a comparative idea of what scope does it have…
But there's so much more! And today it is time to understand how growth of cryptocurrencies affects us in many areas.
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With Bitcoin at the helm, since 2009, it has taken over the world by surprise. Something that at first seemed like a phenomenon of “ niche ” within the vast Internet, has managed to many countries change their legislation and many others economic instruments so that this currency does not affect its traditional economy.
Such has been the debate; that has not only generated intense discussions within the political and economic world, but It has also reached spheres such as philosophy and, above all, to the environment.
Producing cryptocurrencies requires energy huge and, although we discuss it later in depth, in March 2021, the energy consumption worldwide Bitcoin network was estimated at 149 terawatt-hours (TWh) from bitcoin only! if we compare it we should:
Users of cryptocurrencies such as the new Ethereum, for just to cite one example of enormous growth, they seem to be interested in more than mere financial speculation, something that does happen in the world of actions.
For those who mine cryptocurrencies from before they were a boom, the fact of consuming at the level world so much energy surpasses any speculation.
But… How is the mining of digital currencies affecting to the planet?
The only way to produce bitcoins , since there is no a central bank that issues the paper ticket, is through miners and any user can be. The cryptocurrency miners are in charge of produce the hash code , which is obtained using specially created software to be able to draw cryptographic problems.
Globally, we can quickly see who is dedicated to produce more digital coins on the next map…
We can quickly see that China is the largest digital currency producer, then the United States followed from Russia , etc. This map and other information of interest about hash creation are very well exposed in a analysis carried out from the University of Cambridge.
The energy dependence to produce coins directly affects the environment and the ecosystem traditional electric; the high complexity that it generates produce them, leads to the need for a large number of electricity with a lot of associated problems.
The currency is digital , but actually the pollution is very real. The carbon footprint of the bitcoin mining per year exceeds 17,000 kilotonnes of carbon dioxide… How much energy does it take to create bitcoins?
First an approach to 2018, and then a map that reaches 2021. The change in the upward trend, simply brutal!
It is currently estimated that the electricity cost in bitcoin mining exceeds that of countries such as Denmark, Bulgaria and Belarus, and accounts for more than 25% of the consumption of energy from the Netherlands, 15% from Australia or 10% from the United Kingdom United.
If we look at the type of energy consumed to create coins, we have:
| Power source | Asia-Pacific (%) | Europe (%) | Latin America and the Caribbean (%) | North America (%) |
| Hydroelectric | 0.65 | 0.6 | 0.67 | 0.61 |
| Natural gas | 0.38 | 0.33 | 0.17 | 0.44 |
| Coal | 0.65 | 0.02 | 0 | 0.28 |
| Wind | 0.23 | 0.07 | 0 | 0.22 |
| Oil | 0.12 | 0.07 | 0.33 | 0.22 |
| Nuclear | 0.12 | 0.07 | 0 | 0.22 |
| Solar | 0.12 | 0.13 | 0.17 | 0.17 |
| Geothermal energy | 0.08 | 0 | 0 | 0.06 |
We can verify that although renewables are on the rise, even the energy consumption for coin mining is harming the environment in a way forceful .
The following map shows which countries in Europe consume the most or less electricity in the face of world mining:
For example, according to a report by the International Agency for Energy (IEA) position Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrencies as one of the businesses that most electricity consumed worldwide . Naps cryptocurrencies were a country, they would occupy the dangerous 41st place in the ranking of nations with the most electricity consume annually according to Digiconomist. HE would classify as follows:
In addition, other climate studies indicate that after the fever for cryptocurrencies was unleashed, the consumption of light has increased close to 30% in some cities of the world because of the amount of current they need computers to mine cryptocurrencies.
Apart from the comparison and graph above, it is also possible to compare Bitcoin energy consumption with some of the largest energy consuming countries in the world world. The result is shown below.
We can also see the comparison of the consumption of Bitcoin power with other payment systems (The example is with VISA):
Now, not everything is negative about it: the cryptocurrencies have the advantage of not needing to be printed and the same thing happens with ink , so no tree suffers from them nor is energy expended on all machines that participate in the assembly complex of a banknote national.
In summary, it can be compared to that of magazines and newspapers: its presence in the web world increases electricity consumption, but leaves the trees alone, so it is necessary to do in-depth studies on the pros and advantages of each case, and start thinking about applying circular commendation measures from the technological perspective.
As we pointed out before, the first coin, also known as cryptocurrency , was Bitcoin, launched into the world back in 2009. As can be traced, its creators are An anonymous person, although his name has been known: Satoshi Nakamoto .
The idea of this new virtual currency is to work as an alternative form of payment , whose main characteristics is to be a secure currency without intermediaries and, furthermore, without having to be linked in no way to the central banks of the countries.
It should be remembered that these national bodies are not capable of devaluing the currency; cryptocurrencies, not having that relationship, they maintain an even greater autonomy. after the first steps, in recent times have come to light other virtual currencies such as Dash , Ripple and Litecoin .
The really novel thing about this new payment method , It is without a doubt its innovative security system: Blockchain . Surely you have heard of several times of this technology without finishing understanding well what it is about, but it is not as difficult as it seems.
The Blockchain system is made up of a series of “blocks” that are nothing more than the transactions that occur within that system. Each of them is transmitted to a network of the peer-to-peer type made up of thousands of computers encrypted. each of those blocks account, in turn, with a code called hash so that it can be validated.
This elaborate system results in all users of said cryptocurrency manage to be informed of each transaction to occur. This results in greater security than prevents theft and fraud within the system.
Currently, the most profitable cryptocurrencies are Bitcoin and Ethereum , and between them there is a sea of differences, multiplying the value almost by 5. Without However, both generate a negative impact on the environment by the moment, so the best option may be to bet on a smaller but that will give you good returns: Ripple .
This young cryptocurrency calls all those entrepreneurs of the world to join your system, without the need for machines working continuously. Furthermore, predicting the future of Ripple is much easier than with other currencies, so if you are a beginner in the field, this is the best option.
You have to think that the world of “crypto coins” is a business and as such, it has its risks and benefits, but as a wise man said... "For any entrepreneur: if You want to do it, do it now. If you don't, you're going to regret»
Always remember that every step we take on the planet leaves its footprint, even if it is not visible to us at the moment. Making money is never wrong, the problem is which method are we going to use.
