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- Bitcoin’s emission intensity was lower than many sectors, including gold.
- Bitcoin used more than 50% renewable energy for mining operations over the years.
Bitcoins [BTC] The network’s astonishing growth has gone hand in hand with criticism of significantly increased energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
This issue has become a major sticking point between climate activists and Bitcoin maximalists.
Bitcoin improves green credentials
However, things have improved tremendously in recent years.
According to the analysis By Daniel Batten, a well-known Bitcoin environmental impact analyst, Bitcoin’s emissions intensity was at its lowest level at the time of writing, having fallen 52% over the past four years.
Source: Daniel Batten
Emission intensity refers to the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted per unit of energy produced.
It is common knowledge that Bitcoin miners need electricity to power their machines so they can create more Bitcoins and secure the blockchain.
With a sharp reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, Bitcoin became more environmentally efficient than many other sectors.
In fact, the report highlighted that the carbon footprint of the entire banking sector was 464 g/kWh.
This was not only significantly higher than Bitcoin’s, but also showed a much lower rate of improvement over the past four years.
Bitcoin less polluting than gold
AMBCrypto also analyzed data from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index to get a broader view of the subject.
It was discovered that Bitcoin’s estimated annual emissions were 87.77 million tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e), lower than Gold’s 100.4 MtCO2e.
The Royal Coin ranks 63rd on the global list of greenhouse gas emissions, while many other industrial sectors emit much more.
Sustainable impulse that drives change
The drop in emissions could be the result of miners’ preference for cheaper and cleaner energy sources.
According to another report published by Daniel Batten last year, it was revealed that Bitcoin uses more than 50% renewable energy, making it the world’s largest industrial user of renewable energy.
Source: Daniel Batten
The economic benefits of renewable energy sources are well known. Therefore, there was a strong incentive for miners to purchase the cheapest energy sources to power their drilling rigs.
Read Bitcoin’s [BTC] Price forecast 2024-25
This in turn has helped in increasing the hash rate and making the network more secure.
According to on-chain analytics firm Glassnode, the network’s hashrate has grown astronomically over the past five years, reflecting the rise in the value of BTC.
Source: Glassnode