The most recent Q2 report describes the increasing energy efficiency of Bitcoin miners.
According to the Bitcoin Mining Council’s most recent Q2 2022 report, nearly 60% of the electricity utilized to power Bitcoin (BTC) mining equipment is generated from renewable sources (BMC).
The worldwide Bitcoin mining business now uses 59.5 percent of sustainable energy, up 6 percent from Q2 2021 and 2 percent from Q1 2022, according to the BMC’s Q2 analysis of the Bitcoin network, published on Tuesday. The BMC calls this industry “one of the most sustainable in the world.”
The council noted a correlation between rising mining efficiency and miners’ use of more sustainable energy.
The Q2 Bitcoin mining hash rate increased by 137 percent year over year, while energy consumption only increased by 63 percent, indicating a 46 percent gain in efficiency.
In the BMC’s entire report briefing with MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor that was shown on YouTube on Tuesday, additional information regarding the energy efficiency of Bitcoin mining was provided. Saylor said that the energy efficiency of miners had increased 5,814 percent compared to eight years ago.
It also revealed that Bitcoin mining used about 0.15 percent of the world’s energy supply and generated only 0.09 percent of the anticipated 34.8 billion metric tonnes (BMT) of carbon emissions to the atmosphere.
Saylor pointed out in the briefing that the predictions made by Bitcoin’s critics regarding the network’s energy consumption have thus far proven untrue:
“People have been predicting that Bitcoin would use up all the energy in the world for quite a while. That’s not happening, and it’s not going to happen because of the efficiency dynamics.”
The CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, Fred Thiel, said during the same briefing that mining efficiency is a part of a “virtuous cycle” that will cause the sector to become “more and more energy efficient”:
“The efficiency gains are 100% focused on energy consumption because energy is our key input cost. Energy prices increase, forcing us to become more efficient.”
The report explained how the rapid increase in network efficiency over the previous eight years directly resulted from the rising Bitcoin price.
Price rises spur demand for ASIC mining equipment, which supports device innovation. The industry becomes more efficient because more profitable and cost-effective technologies drive out less profitable ones from the market.
Members of the BMC, who collectively control 50.5% of the world’s Bitcoin mining hashing power, provided the data for the research.
The amount of electricity used for Bitcoin mining in the US has attracted the attention of lawmakers there.
The Energy Department (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) received a letter last week from six US politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, requesting that mining corporations submit reports on their emissions and energy usage.