How much water does Bitcoin mining use?
Alex de Vries: Bitcoin miners in the US currently consume up to 120 GL of fresh water per year. This is enough to supply 300,000 households. However, Bitcoin miners in the US are not responsible for the largest share of the worldwide network's water footprint.
The estimated water consumption by Bitcoin miners is expected to surpass 591 billion gallons this year. This figure notably exceeds the 403 billion gallons used by New York City in 2022, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
| Number of mining rigs | Hashrate | Time to mine 1 Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 12,000 TH/s | 51 days |
| 500 | 60,000 TH/s | 10 days |
| 1,000 | 120,000 TH/s | 5 days |
| 5,000 | 600,000 TH/s | 1 day |
Each transaction on the Bitcoin blockchain uses 16,000 liters of water on average, about 6.2 million times more than a credit card swipe, or enough to fill a backyard swimming pool. Bitcoin's water consumption is expected to increase to 2,300 GL in 2023, de Vries says, What is this?
The CBECI estimates that global electricity usage associated with Bitcoin mining ranged from 67 TWh to 240 TWh in 2023, with a point estimate of 120 TWh. The International Energy Agency estimated global consumption of electricity during 2023 to have been 27,400 TWh.
Miners use water directly to cool their computer servers and indirectly by running both computers and air conditioning systems powered by gas- and coal-fired power plants that require cooling water. Some of the cooling water used by power plants evaporates and is no longer available for anything else.
The global crypto mining industry currently consumes as much electricity annually as Ukraine, Digiconomist estimated, and emits 78.7 million metric tons of CO2 per year, as much as the nation of Oman. Environmental impacts are not limited to the energy the industry consumed from power plants burning fossil fuels.
The total number of bitcoins that can be mined in a single block is fixed, currently at 6.25 BTC per block. However, the actual amount of bitcoins that can be mined by a single machine will depend on the machine's hashrate relative to the total hashrate of the entire Bitcoin network.
The Bitcoin network has a mechanism for ensuring that no matter how much hash rate is produced by all miners, one new block is only created on average every ten minutes. This mechanism is called the difficulty adjustment. ➤ Learn more about Bitcoin's difficulty adjustment.
The cost of mining one Bitcoin per day can vary greatly depending on several factors such as the cost of electricity, the efficiency of mining equipment, and the current difficulty level of mining. However, on average, it can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 per day to mine one Bitcoin.
How much power is needed to mine 1 Bitcoin a day?
The fact is that even the most efficient Bitcoin mining operation takes roughly 155,000 kWh to mine one Bitcoin. By way of comparison, the average US household consumes about 900 kWh per month.
| Amount | Today at 7:09 am |
|---|---|
| 1 USD | 0.000016 BTC |
| 5 USD | 0.000078 BTC |
| 10 USD | 0.000156 BTC |
| 50 USD | 0.000778 BTC |
The reward for mining is 6.25 bitcoins. In April 2024, it will drop to 3.125 bitcoins. It takes the network about 10 minutes to mine one block, so it will take 10 minutes to mine 3.125 bitcoins.
Bitcoin mining requires a significant amount of computational power, which in turn requires a substantial amount of electricity. If the cost of electricity is higher than the value of the bitcoins mined, it can result in a net loss for the miner.
Energy-intensive crypto mining has strained local electric grids, raised electricity rates for residents, increased local air and water pollution, and prompted noise complaints from neighbors across the U.S.
The biggest bitcoin mining countries are: 1) The United States (40%) 2) China (15%) 3) Russia (12%) This map will look very different in 1-2 years as miners in Africa and Latin America expand operations. A massive trend in the industry will be miners migrating toward these regions.
Most Profitable Cryptocurrencies to Mine
Bitcoin, the first and most well-known cryptocurrency, is still the most profitable to mine. However, the difficulty of mining Bitcoin has increased significantly in recent years, making it difficult for individual miners to make a profit.
Common Water Quality Issues
It leads to acidic waters that mobilize toxic metals, sulfate, and other dissolved solids. When these waters are discharged into surrounding aquifers, lakes, and streams, they can make the water unsafe for people to drink and degrade habitat suitability for aquatic species.
The most cost-prohibitive aspect of Bitcoin mining involves the hardware. You'll need a powerful computer that uses an enormous amount of electricity in order to successfully mine Bitcoin. It's not uncommon for the hardware costs to run around $10,000 or more.
A 2022 non-peer-reviewed commentary published in Joule estimated that bitcoin mining resulted in annual carbon emission of 65 Mt CO 2, representing 0.2% of global emissions, which is comparable to the level of emissions of Greece.
Is Bitcoin mining really bad for the environment?
UN Study Reveals the Hidden Environmental Impacts of Bitcoin: Carbon is Not the Only Harmful By-product. Global Bitcoin mining is highly dependent on fossil fuels, with worrying impacts on water and land in addition to a significant carbon footprint.
The End of Bitcoin Mining Rewards
However, once the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins is reached, these block rewards will cease. Miners will then solely rely on transaction fees as their compensation for validating transactions and securing the network.
The supply of bitcoins is replenished at a set rate of one block every ten minutes. The system design reduces the number of new bitcoins in each block by half every four years. There are only about 2 million bitcoins left. Experts predict that the last bitcoins will be mined by 2140.
Bitcoin's supply limit, known as the hard cap, is a key feature of Bitcoin's monetary policy, designed to create scarcity and prevent inflation. Satoshi Nakamoto encoded this limit into Bitcoin's source code, which is enforced by network nodes.
Is Bitcoin Mining Legal? In many jurisdictions, Bitcoin mining is legal. However, there are still some countries where it is illegal, so it's important to check the activity's status in your country before you start mining.
