White House Condemns Energy Use of Bitcoin Mining – Bitcoin Magazine
- Pursuant to President Biden’s executive order, the White House Office of Science and Technology released its report on bitcoin mining’s climate impact.
- The report refers to possible executive orders and congressional legislation to “restrict” or “eliminate” proof-of-work mining.
- Some of the cited resources have been criticized for biases towards certain industries and the spread of misinformation.
The White House Office of Science and Technology has released a report claiming that bitcoin mining negatively impacts the environment and suggests banning proof-of-work.
“Electricity use from digital assets contributes to [greenhouse gas emissions]additional pollution, noise and other local impacts, depending on markets, policies and local power sources,” the report said.
The first part of the report serves as an introduction, while hinting against banning proof-of-work mining, which is used to mine bitcoin, if regulatory measures fail to impact US climate goals.
“Should these measures prove ineffective in mitigating the impacts, the administration should explore executive action and Congress may consider legislation to limit or eliminate the use of high-energy-intensive consensus mechanisms for mining cryptoassets,” according to the report.
Next, the document explores how mining can affect electrical grids.
The Office of Science and Technology claims that bitcoin mining plants place additional stress on the power grid leading to power outages, fire hazards and equipment degradation. The report also claims that bitcoin miners will increase the average cost of electricity for local consumers.
“Depending on the energy intensity of the technology used, cryptoassets could hinder broader efforts to achieve net-zero carbon pollution consistent with US climate commitments and goals,” the report said.
Finally, the final section concludes that there are ways in which bitcoin mining may actually benefit US climate goals, although this is a much smaller part.
“[Proof-of-work] mining that installs equipment to use vented methane to generate electricity for operations is more likely to help rather than hinder U.S. climate goals,” according to the report.
It is worth mentioning, however, of the cited resources used in this report, many are controversial and some of the researchers have received criticism for extreme bias or misinformation.
