Data shows that the bitcoin mining sector has become the most sustainably driven global industry, with more than 50% using clean energy.
Most of the bitcoin mining industry uses clean energy sources
One of the main criticisms of btc is that the sector uses a considerable amount of energy and therefore releases a notable amount of emissions.
Things seem to be improving and quite quickly. in a new mail On X, CH4Capital co-founder Daniel Batten has shared some charts analyzing the sustainability of the btc network and how it compares to other sectors.
The first graph shows the trend in the percentage of sustainable energy used by bitcoin mining and other industries over the last four years.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bitcoin-Mining-Now-Global-Industry-with-Most-Sustainable-Momentum-Data.jpeg" alt="bitcoin Mining Sustainability” width=”1236″ height=”997″ loading=”lazy”/>
The trend in the clean energy used by the various global industries | Source: @DSBatten on X
As shown in the graph above, most industries have seen minimal growth in sustainable energy use during this period. The banking sector, second in terms of clean energy use, saw a 2.6% increase.
On the other hand, the bitcoin mining sector has seen an increase of a whopping 38%, bringing the proportion of sustainable energy powering the blockchain to 52.6%. Naturally, this growth has made btc mining the most sustainable among these global industries.
An even more interesting graph is this one that compares the network’s emissions (in terms of megatons of CO2 emitted) with the different indicators related to the growth of the blockchain.
<img decoding="async" class="alignnone aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1695748737_942_Bitcoin-Mining-Now-Global-Industry-with-Most-Sustainable-Momentum-Data.jpeg" alt="bitcoin emissions” width=”1289″ height=”1043″ loading=”lazy”/>
Looks like emissions on the network have gone down in this period | Source: @DSBatten on X
Three bitcoin metrics are considered here: mining hashrate, price, and total number of users. The first has grown by 475% in the last four years, the second by 164% and the third by 289%.
However, despite these growths, emissions from the mining sector have decreased by almost 10% in the same period. Batten points out that even if these metrics are doubled over any four-year cycle, emissions will be the same as they were at the beginning, something no other industry has achieved.
The fact that the hashrate, which is a measure of the total amount of computing power that miners have connected to the blockchain, has been able to increase while the total emissions decrease would imply that the emissions intensity (i.e. emissions per kWh of power used) has decreased.
In fact, as the data would confirm, the emissions intensity of the btc network has decreased by more than 50% in the last four years, making the mining sector the most emissions-efficient among global industries.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/1695748737_559_Bitcoin-Mining-Now-Global-Industry-with-Most-Sustainable-Momentum-Data.jpeg" alt="bitcoin issuance intensity” width=”1257″ height=”933″/>
All other industries have only seen a slight decrease in this metric | Source: @DSBatten on X
Finally, Batten has also shared the energy composition of the network, pointing out that the largest source of energy is hydraulics.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bitcoin-Mining-Now-Global-Industry-with-Most-Sustainable-Momentum-Data.webp" alt="bitcoin Energy Mix” width=”680″ height=”599″/>
23.1% of the network is powered by hydro energy | Source: @DSBatten on X
This means that the bitcoin mining sector is also the only one that does not have its largest energy source, coal.
btc Price
bitcoin has been stagnant for a while and the asset is only continuing this sideways trend as its price trades around the $26,100 level.
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="alignnone size-medium aligncenter" src="https://technicalterrence.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Bitcoin-Mining-Now-Global-Industry-with-Most-Sustainable-Momentum-Data" alt="bitcoin price chart” width=”1534″ height=”876″/>
btc is still stuck in its consolidation | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView
Featured image by Brian Wangenheim on Unsplash.com, chart by TradingView.com
