Never mind that we might not know what the future holds for cryptocurrencies and how much values will fluctuate or even how the process of mining a coin could cost as much as the value of the coin itself – cryptocurrency mining is a hot industry and shows no signs of slowing down. However, energy consumption to mine cryptocurrency is one of the biggest issues facing this industry. Burning huge amounts of electricity isn’t incidental to cryptocurrency, it’s basically embedded in the core of «mining.»
In this winner-takes-all game, burning the most electricity increases the chances of winning.
The Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index states that the global energy usage of all bitcoin mining already is equivalent to the power uptake of the country of the Czech Republic. Mining equipment for a larger operation can exceed 100 megawatts (MWs) – similar to what a 1 million-square-foot Google or Facebook data center may require.