No, Bitcoin (BTC) Is Not Harming Environment

According to a recent report from investor and ESG analyst Daniel Batten, more than half of the energy used in Bitcoin mining comes from renewable energy sources. Hydropower alone reportedly accounts for more than 23% of the energy used in mining. This is followed by wind, nuclear and solar powers with a combined share of 26.9%, and 2.4% from other renewable energy sources.

As Batten himself writes, previous reports on the energy consumed by Bitcoin mining did not account for off-grid sources, which led him to believe that the claim of coal dominating the process was incorrect. In fact, the share of coal in BTC mining is 22.92%, while gas as also a fossil energy source, is 21.14%. If you compare mining with electric vehicles, you get the same amount of gas used to mine BTC, but 38% less coal as an energy source, Batten analyzes.

Giving an outlook for the future, the analyst also expects the share of fossil fuels in BTC mining to decline. According to Batten’s BEEST model, the share of renewable parts of the Bitcoin network will increase by about 6.2% per year. Increased consumption of water, solar, wind in mining will probably mean a corresponding decrease in the share of coal, gas and other fossils, he concludes.