The U.S. Power Info Administration (EIA) will acquire information on the vitality use of cryptocurrency miners working in the US.
In a press launch, the company introduced that it might start a “provisional survey of electrical energy consumption data from recognized cryptocurrency mining corporations working in the US.”
Crypto mining is how belongings that use a proof of labor consensus mechanism, like Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Monero, confirm transactions and unlock new cash. Ethereum used to have proof of labor consensus, however switched to proof of stake in September 2022 and now not requires miners.
The survey, to launch subsequent week, would require recognized business crypto miners to reply with particulars of their vitality use; the EIA can even search public touch upon the gathering of crypto miners’ vitality use information.
The survey follows an “emergency assortment of knowledge request” by the Workplace of Administration and Finances (OMB), a part of the Govt Workplace of the President of the US.
“We intend to proceed to research and write concerning the vitality implications of cryptocurrency mining actions in the US,” stated EIA Administrator Joe DeCarolis in an announcement, including that the company would concentrate on the “evolving” vitality demand for crypto mining, figuring out geographic areas of progress and the sources of electrical energy used for crypto mining.
In a tweet, the EIA stated that it was conducting the survey so as to “higher perceive” miners’ vitality calls for.
Crypto mining and vitality consumption
The mining of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies equivalent to Bitcoin and Dogecoin has traditionally are available in for criticism over its vitality use, with the estimated energy consumption of the Bitcoin community surpassing that of many international locations.
In 2023, environmental marketing campaign group Greenpeace launched a marketing campaign urging Bitcoin builders and miners to desert its proof-of-work consensus mechanism in favor of the much less energy-hungry proof-of-stake mannequin.
Crypto mining advocates have pushed again in opposition to critics, arguing that Bitcoin mining can use “extra” inexperienced vitality and pure gasoline that will in any other case be wasted, and may help decarbonize vitality grids and speed up the shift to renewables.
In September 2023, the College of Cambridge carried out a serious replace to its Bitcoin Electrical energy Consumption Index (CBECI), one of many key references for Bitcoin mining’s vitality consumption, concluding that earlier calculations had been overestimations.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
