The amount of e-waste produced by bitcoin has been found to be five times more than is produced by some entire nations; according to analysis of the topic by StockApps.
According to a StockApps analysis, bitcoin produces close to 30, 700 metric tons of e-waste a year. When measured against an absolute scale, this figure shocking equates to five times more e-waste than is produced by the entire nation of Luxembourg, which produces roughly 6,000 metric tons of e-waste.
“The fact that Bitcoin mining produces 30.7 kilotons of waste annually is worrying,” says StockApps’ Edith Reads. “Today, BTC mining generates over five times the amount that Luxembourg does. That’s a pretty staggering figure, especially when you consider that Luxembourg has a population of over 600,000 people.”
Why is bitcoin mining a dirty venture?
Bitcoin’s environmental issues stem from its architecture, which deploys a proof of work (PoW) mining consensus mechanism that’s both energy and hardware intensive. Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index estimates that bitcoin uses roughly 119 TWh annually; nearly 25 times Luxembourg’s annual consumption!
That amount of energy consumption comes with its downsides; the frequent wear and tear of the coin’s mining equipment. In the beginning, it was profitable to mine bitcoin using regular everyday computer hardware. But the crypto’s mining difficulty grows with time, necessitating the use of advanced miners the application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).
ASICs are tailor-made for mining, but they have short life spans. An average ASIC is profitable for roughly 18 months. Miners, therefore, have to acquire new ones leading to an accumulation of decommissioned ASICs adding to the earth’s environmental woes.
What would it take to reverse bitcoin’s e-waste problem?
Mitigating bitcoin’s e-waste footprint requires concerted efforts from the coin’s enthusiasts. A significant part of those efforts should concentrate on reducing its energy and hardware demands. That entails migrating from the current PoW consensus mechanism to an environmentally sound one.
For example, industry analysts have put forward a move to the proof of stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. PoS uses significantly lesser energy resources than PoW; it also doesn’t require sophisticated hardware for profitable mining.
Adopting it will substantially cut down the number of devices that bitcoin mining renders obsolete yearly.
