The University of Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance has calculated that Bitcoin’s total energy consumption is somewhere between 40 and 445 terawatt hours (TWh) a year, with a central estimate of about 130 terawatt hours, reports the BBC: The UK’s electricity consumption is a little over 300 TWh a year, while Argentina uses around the same amount of power as the…
Tag: energy use
Bitcoin Consumes ‘More Electricity Than Argentina’
Thelasko shares a report from the BBC: Bitcoin uses more electricity annually than the whole of Argentina, analysis by Cambridge University suggests. ‘Mining’ for the cryptocurrency is power-hungry, involving heavy computer calculations to verify transactions. Cambridge researchers say it consumes around 121.36 terawatt-hours (TWh) a year — and is unlikely to fall unless the value of the currency slumps. Critics say…
New Study: A Zero-Emissions America is Now Pretty Cheap
“Until recently, it was unclear whether variable renewable energy, nuclear, or fossil fuel with carbon capture and storage would become the main form of generation in a decarbonized electricity system,” argues a recently-published analysis titled Carbon-Neutral Pathways for the United States. “The cost decline of variable renewable energy over the last few years, however, has definitively changed the situation.” Ars Technica…
Carbon Engineering’s Tech Will Suck Carbon From the Sky
“It’s not enough to slash greenhouse gas emissions,” warns a new article in IEEE Spectrum (shared by schwit1). “Experts say we need direct-air capture of atmospheric carbon.” West Texas is a hydrocarbon hot spot, with thousands of wells pumping millions of barrels of oil and billions of cubic feet of natural gas from the Permian Basin. When burned, all that oil…
A History of the American Energy System In One Chart
Long-time Slashdot reader BoredStiff writes: An energy Sankey diagram [where the width of arrows is proportional to flow rates] was published today by the University of Chicago, and shows the history of the American energy system in chart form, from 1800 to 2019. The Atlantic explains: It is the first attempt to put so much information about U.S. energy history in…
Discovery unlocks ‘hot’ electrons for more efficient energy use
Highly energetic, “hot” electrons have the potential to help solar panels more efficiently harvest light energy. …
MIT Develops a Way To Use Wireless Signals From In-Home Appliances To Better Understand Your Health
[R]esearchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) have developed a new system (PDF) that can figure out when and where in-home appliances like hair dryers, stoves, microwaves and washing machines are being used, and they believe that info could help inform healthcare practitioners about the habits and challenges of people under their care. TechCrunch reports: The researchers devised…
Amazon fires quickening glacier melting in Andes
The burning rainforest releases black carbon into the atmosphere, which, according to a growing number of scientific studies, directly contributes to the melting of glaciers. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/amazon-fires-glaciers-andes-melt-even-faster…
Gaming in the US emits as much carbon dioxide as all of Sri Lanka
Energy use from gaming in the US produces carbon emissions on a par with Sri Lanka’s total annual carbon footprint Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2223136-gaming-in-the-us-emits-as-much-carbon-dioxide-as-all-of-sri-lanka/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Is daylight time worth the trouble?
This is the weekend we “fall back” here in the U.S. Are you glad? Sad? Mad? Advocates say daylight time saves energy and wins wars. Studies show injuries and illnesses rise when clocks change. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/is-daylight-saving-time-worth-the-trouble…