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- Crypto mining requires heavy equipment which can handle a great amount of mathematical solutions.
- This results in carbon emissions, leading to global climate change.
- A report says that these operations may cause a hindrance to mitigate climate change.
Increasing Carbon Emissions
CNBC reported that The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy said that crypto mining may become an obstacle for the ability of the nation to mitigate climate change. According to a White House report, mining operations in the USA take as much power as all the home computers and residential lighting. The findings come amid the increasing criticism concerning the power consumption by mining operations.
Crypto mining operations use heavy equipment to solve the complicated maths problems to verify the transactions on blockchain. The amount of carbon emissions produced by such activities are contributing to the greenhouse effect, which leads to a rise in earth’s temperature. Cryptocurrencies using PoW algorithms are the prime reason behind this issue.
Crypto mining operations in the USA account for 0.2% of greenhouse gas emissions and 0.3% worldwide, though the report says that these estimates are not accurate. Burning fossil fuels, coal and natural gas generates electricity required for crypto production which also generates emissions contributing to global warming.
Cryptocurrency mining produced around 110 Million and 170 Million metric tons of carbon pollution globally and 25 million to 50 million metric tons in the United States alone. The process generates energy by purchasing it from power grids or generating through computer and mining framework.
This report follows the executive order by Joe Biden’s administration during March, which called on the authorities to examine the perks and downfalls of crypto assets. The president has promised to lower the US emissions 2005 levels to around half by 2030, and attain zero emissions by 2050.
According to the report emissions by crypto operations are larger than the emissions of any other nations and equal global emissions from various sources. Furthermore, the top crypto asset on the market, Bitcoin, generates around 2/3rd of worldwide crypto greenhouse gas emissions.
Anurag is working as a fundamental writer for The Coin Republic since 2021. He likes to exercise his curious muscles and research deep into a topic. Though he covers various aspects of the crypto industry, he is quite passionate about the Web3, NFTs, Gaming, and Metaverse, and envisions them as the future of the (digital) economy. A reader & writer at heart, he calls himself an “average guitar player” and a fun footballer.
