Bitcoin mines aren’t just energy-hungry, it seems they’re thirsty, too. The water consumption tied to a single Bitcoin transaction, on common, might be sufficient to fill a small yard pool, in response to a new evaluation. Bitcoin mines are primarily massive knowledge facilities, which have change into infamous for the way a lot electricity and water they use.
Bitcoin’s water footprint is rising, in response to the evaluation revealed at present in a commentary within the journal Cell Reports Sustainability. That’s a difficulty to observe as the worth of Bitcoin recovers from a spiraling crypto winter.
Bitcoin mines are primarily massive knowledge facilities, which have change into infamous for the way a lot electricity and water they use.
The examine was carried out by Alex de Vries, a PhD candidate at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam whose previous research has tracked cryptocurrencies’ electricity consumption and greenhouse gasoline emissions. These points have moved legislators to push for more oversight of crypto mines’ environmental impression. However till lately, most of that spotlight has been on whether or not energy-intensive cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin would possibly throw off nations’ local weather targets.
Bitcoin mining additionally has the potential to emphasize water sources in drought-prone areas. Miners use specialised computer systems to unravel puzzles across the clock to validate transactions and earn Bitcoin in return. All that computing energy burns through a lot of power. And like different knowledge facilities, many crypto mines additionally find yourself utilizing a whole lot of water of their cooling methods to maintain machines from overheating.
“It’s type of laborious to shock me, given how I’ve already labored on this subject I’m form of used to massive numbers popping up. However then once more, the numbers are nonetheless thoughts blowing even to me each time I have a look at it,” de Vries instructed The Verge.
To conduct his evaluation, de Vries estimated the direct water use from Bitcoin mines’ cooling methods. He additionally added their oblique water consumption related to electricity technology, since energy crops additionally use water in cooling methods. All in all, he discovered that cryptocurrency mining used about 1,600 gigaliters of water in 2021 when the worth of Bitcoin peaked at over $65,000. That comes out to a small swimming pool’s value of water (16,000 liters), on common, for every transaction. It’s about 6.2 million instances extra water than a bank card swipe, in response to de Vries.
In fact, all the things dipped in 2022 as the worth of Bitcoin plunged and mining slowed. However the worth has climbed again up since final yr, rising from lower than $20,000 to round $38,000 at present. The upper the worth, the extra incentive there’s to ramp up mining. That’s why de Vries expects the cryptocurrency’s water consumption to rise to a new excessive of 2,300 gigaliters worldwide this yr. Within the US, the biggest hub for Bitcoin mining on the earth, Bitcoin mining makes use of about as a lot yearly as a metropolis the scale of Washington, DC.
These numbers are estimates based mostly on the belief that the Bitcoin mines run on water-dependent cooling methods typical in giant knowledge facilities. Nonetheless, some data centers and crypto mines use a totally different system that retains computer systems cool and cuts down water consumption by immersing them in a non-conductive liquid.
There’s one other technique to get the cryptocurrency to make use of a fraction of the water and electricity it eats up now and slash greenhouse gasoline emissions: get rid of the mining course of altogether and discover a new technique to validate transactions. That’s what the subsequent largest cryptocurrency community, Ethereum, accomplished final yr.
If Bitcoin was to do one thing comparable, “all of the electricity consumption, related water consumption, that may just disappear in a single day. You already know, we are able to make it occur,” de Vries mentioned. “Apparently, individuals nonetheless favor to argue that the community isn’t as unhealthy as we expect it’s, slightly than really attempting to do one thing about it.”