BTC energy consumption & sustainability

makeorbrake

BTC mining consumes a shed load of energy. Is this sustainable going forward? If not, will the implementation of Lightning Network have a significant effect on consumption?

unkel

makeorbrake wrote: »

BTC mining consumes a shed load of energy. Is this sustainable going forward?

It is if the energy source is renewable. Which is a lot easier than you would think. Scotland (of all places) is aiming to have 100% renewable electricity by 2020 (solar + wind). They won't make it, but they're not that far off. Whereas we in Ireland are once again the dirty man of Europe. With all our diesel and almost zero solar. We (you and me the tax payers) are already paying massive fines for our pollution. Most people and even politicians seem to be unaware of this :rolleyes:

99 Bortles of Beer

Part of me is wary that if Governments do want to limit cryptos, that a backdoor method to doing this would be to focus on the energy/environmental side of things. I'm drifting more towards POS coins as a result, but that's just my opinion and for my own comfort.

unkel

99 Bortles of Beer wrote: »

if Governments do want to limit cryptos, that a backdoor method to doing this would be to focus on the energy/environmental side of things.

That seems to be the main reason behind Chinese government (With China by far the biggest crypto mining country in the world) trying to limit mining.