Trying to tackle climate change and then the miners use sh*tloads of energy... well done 😀

By 2025 the entire universe should implode thanks to the miners.

...and this all started by making one single paperclip.....

I hope governments ban (or make tight legislation) bitcoin, this shit has to stop.

glutto:

...and this all started by making one single paperclip.....

Thanks for ruining my day (in a good way ahahah)

Now if only they'd start posting how much electricity electric cars use so people stop thinking they're "zero emissions" =D

Well to be fair, nuclear is not emission free. It "emits" burnt out, still radio active material that has to be taken care of. Not even solar, wind power, or hydro power are emission free if you think about it, they still need resources and replacement of the technology in there, that has to be produced at some point, where there's still emissions. Don't think about the production of energy in a plant, but think "cradle to the grave" or even "crade to cradle". Right now, there is nothing that's truely free of emissions. Electric cars do emit sound when driving, the sound the tires make running on the streets, they emit heat, etc. 😀

I bet the miners will tell us that it's all okay because mining is important and stuff 🙄.

Really kind of sad that this is the reality. If this were Gridcoin, I'd be fine with this because at least that encourages something useful. But people who mine for Bitcoin and Ethereum are just in it for themselves. At least on one positive note, the hardware they buy helps give AMD and Nvidia more revenue...

fantaskarsef:

Trying to tackle climate change and then the miners use sh*tloads of energy... well done 😀

pretty sure everyone still things this is a "myth" or it not "there" problem. there kids and there kids kids will enjoy that issue cause its not "there" problem to care about. Lot of sarcasim in this statement the Donald Sutherland movie "Virus" said it best " humans are a virus" and planet is suffering.

tsunami231:

pretty sure everyone still things this is a "myth" or it not "there" problem. there kids and there kids kids will enjoy that issue cause its not "there" problem to care about. Lot of sarcasim in this statement

Sarcastic or not, there are sadly too many people who honestly believe climate change isn't real.

World's going to shit anyway, might as well speed things up a little. 🙄

schmidtbag:

Sarcastic or not, there are sadly too many people who honestly believe climate change isn't real.

sadlly is not that they dont beleive it, its more of "they" all dont see it issue so they see the need to do anything about it let alone "spend" money fix it in 20 years if i still alive the problem will be real and big issue that cant be stoped

scoter man1:

Now if only they'd start posting how much electricity electric cars use so people stop thinking they're "zero emissions" =D

I'm fairly sure that if you note the amount of power a power plant produces, and then collect a pile of internal combustion cars until you reach the same output, the car horde will produce more emissions. You need to keep in mind that when you rev the car engine to the max to reach the top engine output, it's not even as "clean" anymore as it would be under normal cruising circumstances. So, if you wanted to keep it cleaner, you'd need even more cars! Then start to calculate how much maintenance the army of cars requires compared to the power plant, including lubrication and whatnot. If emissions need to be cut further, it's far easier to deal with a single power plant than thousands of individual cars with stubborn owners. Of course I'm talking about a power plant in a civilized country, not a country with no enforced environmental regulations. So, yeah, they aren't zero emission, but they are better and more manageable.

Mr.Robot save us from Evil Coin.

Trump's an unmitigated disaster. You may be one of the holdouts, but the US has no room to talk to anyone else in the world about anything right now. We're a laughingstock. As to mining, it would seem all mining is bad for humanity, only good for making profits.

Greed and denial.

airbud7:

global population growth is another factor.... how far down the road do we reach the point of absolute food shortages, and rationing kicks in?

I live in a relatively large country on a European scale, with very low population density. More and more previously cultivated fields are now growing only trees because crops are so cheap it doesn't pay off to farm them, instead more is being imported. I don't see this food shortage at all. If such a thing really did happen, I guess forests would be chopped down and crops cultivated once again over here.

D3M1G0D:

I think it's important to keep things in perspective. 29.05 TWh may seem big but it pales in comparison to the estimate 75 TWh that gaming PCs use (https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2015/09/07/the-big-surprise-in-home-energy-consumption-gaming-pcs/#673a32481bff), and that's in 2015 - it'd probably be higher now, as Pascal cards have led to surge in GPUs for gaming. And if you want to criticize mining as being useless then note that gaming is also a largely frivolous activity - it's basically for personal amusement. For gamers to criticize miners for hogging electricity is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black (especially high-end gamers, who overclock and/or use multiple GPUs). Let's show a little humility here, shall we?

Gamers are just mad that prices are being driven up, because miners are willing to spend more moneys than they are 🙂

schmidtbag:

Really kind of sad that this is the reality. If this were Gridcoin, I'd be fine with this because at least that encourages something useful. But people who mine for Bitcoin and Ethereum are just in it for themselves. At least on one positive note, the hardware they buy helps give AMD and Nvidia more revenue...

And gold mining is in it for themselves as well. I find it interesting how many self-entitled (not necessarily directing this comment at you, schmidtbag) people are in here who decide that because of something they don't understand or like, others shouldn't be able to do it. It's all good that we get these power-hungry gaming systems for our enterainment, but you want to make money, instead of being entertained? Well, shame on you, you should be put to death. One day (likely has already happened) people will be saying the same thing about computers: "How dare you, you don't need to use that extra power for that higher performance stuff, you could get low-end low-power requirements parts and still be able to play that game on the lowest settings! High end gaming/computer enthusiasts need to be banned/regulated!" Bunch of utter nonsense As to this article, i'm going to call BS on it. It claims there was a was a 29.98% increase in power consumption in one month. Well, that doesn't add up. To have a 29.98% power increase, the hashrate would also have to have a 29.98% power increase. Not to mention the fact that the websites "Bitcoin energy consumption index" goes pretty much in a straight line upwards, and again, that would have to reflect the hashrate. In fact, the hashrate (aka power consumption) was the HIGHEST it has ever been on october 25/6th, and has actually gone DOWN since then. This nonsense "29.98%" increase is probably a result of CHERRY PICKING results. For instance. (rounding) 10/26/2017 Hashrate: 11.4 ehash 11/16/2017 Hashrate: 8.3 ehash 11/30/2017 Hashrate: 11.3 ehash Difference? 26.55%, not even the famed "29.98%" increase, and a completely and totally bogus result no matter which way you go about it, since again, the hashrate was about the same more then a month ago. And if this confuses you, just remember: Hashrate directly relates to power consumption.

D3M1G0D:

I think it's important to keep things in perspective. 29.05 TWh may seem big but it pales in comparison to the estimate 75 TWh that gaming PCs use (https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelkanellos/2015/09/07/the-big-surprise-in-home-energy-consumption-gaming-pcs/#673a32481bff), and that's in 2015 - it'd probably be higher now, as Pascal cards have led to surge in GPUs for gaming. And if you want to criticize mining as being useless then note that gaming is also a largely frivolous activity - it's basically for personal amusement. For gamers to criticize miners for hogging electricity is kind of like the pot calling the kettle black (especially high-end gamers, who overclock and/or use multiple GPUs). Let's show a little humility here, shall we?

^ So much this. People are just being entitled uneducated condemners who wouldn't do the same to other power consumption hobbies. Why? Because while their power consumption hobbies do not earn them money, the ones they are trying to condemn, do. Only explanation? People are jealous they are not making money themselves and instead must become infuriated toward people who are.

WalterDasTrevas:

______ Really? Are you advocating the parasites that exploit bitcoins and inflate not only GPU markets, but also energy production costs? Do you want to compare an ordinary player who tends to play a few hours a day (after all, work, study, have families) with a parasite that buys 20 GPUs and keeps the hardware 24 hours a day in full stress? In my opinion, the mining bubble will explode soon, and as it does in financial pyramids, the parasites will sour huge losses.

The only "parasites" here are the people trying to tell others what they can and can't do. Or do you not understand the definition of parasite? Because i can guarantee you that the definition of parasite is not: Someone who buys a product with their own money (or AKA according to you inflating the GPU market) Or Someone who uses, and pays for the electricity they are allowed to purchase.

Aura89:

And gold mining is in it for themselves as well.

Sure, but the big difference here is gold actually serves real-world practical uses. Its value is tangible. The energy required to mine for cryptocurrencies yields nothing productive. This is why I'm more in favor of Litecoin, because you're producing something of useful while getting a little something in return.

It's all good that we get these power-hungry gaming systems for our enterainment, but you want to make money, instead of being entertained? Well, shame on you, you should be put to death.

I see what you're saying, but for people like myself, the issue is people who buy hundreds of GPUs for the sole purpose of generating money. If you want to use your gaming PC to mine for coins, go ahead - I see nothing wrong in that at all. But to make it your business, that's a little scummy.

One day (likely has already happened) people will be saying the same thing about computers: "How dare you, you don't need to use that extra power for that higher performance stuff, you could get low-end low-power requirements parts and still be able to play that game on the lowest settings! High end gaming/computer enthusiasts need to be banned/regulated!"

Well, anyone who says that is just simply a moron. High-end hardware isn't really a whole lot more power-hungry than low-end hardware, so as long as you have v/g/free/adaptive sync on, the power consumption doesn't go up that much. In fact for some situations, high-end hardware doing "simple" tasks are more efficient.

As to this article, i'm going to call BS on it. It claims there was a was a 29.98% increase in power consumption in one month. Well, that doesn't add up. To have a 29.98% power increase, the hashrate would also have to have a 29.98% power increase. Not to mention the fact that the websites "Bitcoin energy consumption index" goes pretty much in a straight line upwards, and again, that would have to reflect the hashrate.

I think the implication was the amount of hardware dedicated to mining went up 29.98%. So yeah, the amount of watts needed per platform hasn't gone up, but the amount of platforms have gone up.

^ So much this. People are just being entitled uneducated condemners who wouldn't do the same to other power consumption hobbies. Why? Because while their power consumption hobbies do not earn them money, the ones they are trying to condemn, do. Only explanation? People are jealous they are not making money themselves and instead must become infuriated toward people who are.

Again, there's a difference between hobby and your job. I have a friend whose hobby is to do business consultations for a small fee, but that's not how he makes his living. Using your gaming PC to collect bitcoins while its idle is totally reasonable and just a hobby. Even retiring a gaming PC for such a thing could be just a hobby. But the people who everyone is complaining about are waaaay beyond hobby level; this is their life investment.

The only "parasites" here are the people trying to tell others what they can and can't do. Or do you not understand the definition of parasite? Because i can guarantee you that the definition of parasite is not:

I personally don't think of miners as being parasites, because like you said, they don't fit the definition. And yes, they are allowed to do what they want because they're not doing anything illegal. However, as much as they have a right to mine, people do have a right to complain about them, and there are valid points as to why miners (again, the serious ones, not the hobbyists) are a problem. They're expending a scary amount of finite energy (keep in mind, most miners are in places that use fossil fuels) on something that does literally nothing but give the person money. The currency may be finite, but it doesn't physically exist and its value is arguably arbitrary. If these currencies ever completely lose their value, that energy will have been a tremendous waste.