• A report from Digiconomist says that in 2022, the total energy consumed by Bitcoin mining was 161 Terra Watt Hours (TWh), which is more than the amount of electricity used by a country like Sweden in the same year.
• There were almost 93 million transactions on the Bitcoin network in 2021, with each transaction consuming an average of 1,738 Kilo Watt Hours (KWH) of electricity.
• Bitcoin’s share of global electricity consumption rose to 0.64%, and a single Bitcoin transaction in 2021 emitted up to 969 kilograms of CO2.
A new report from technology platform Digiconomist has revealed that Bitcoin mining consumed an astonishing amount of electricity in 2022, surpassing the total energy consumed by a country like Sweden.
The report showed that the total energy consumed by Bitcoin mining throughout the year was 161 Terra Watt Hours (TWh), which is significantly more than the amount of electricity used by Sweden in the same year. This is a stark reminder of just how much energy is used in the process of mining Bitcoins.
Digiconomist further revealed that there were almost 93 million transactions on the Bitcoin network in 2021, with each transaction consuming an average of 1,738 Kilo Watt Hours (KWH) of electricity. That’s enough to power an average household in the U.S. for no less than two months. Despite the number of transactions dropping from the previous year, Bitcoin’s share of global electricity consumption still went up to 0.64%.
On top of that, the report also highlighted that a single Bitcoin transaction in 2021 emitted up to 969 kilograms of CO2. This is the same as the carbon footprint per passenger of a one-way flight from New York to Sydney. In fact, the CO2 emissions from Bitcoin mining in 2022 cancelled out all the gains from electric vehicles.
The findings from the Digiconomist report are a stark reminder of the environmental cost of mining Bitcoin, and the need for more sustainable solutions. With so much energy being used, it is clear that further measures need to be taken to reduce the environmental impact of Bitcoin mining.