Renewable energy will not solve Bitcoin's sustainability problem, says blockwine specialist working for PwC, one of the world's top four audit firms, Alex de Vries.
PwC analyst expressed this view as part of a study he published yesterday in the Energy Sustainability Journal.
According to available data, Bitcoin mining consumed somewhat between 40 terawatt-hours (TWh) and 62.3 TWh in 2018. This is energy consumption somewhere between Hungary (40.3 TWh) and Switzerland (62.1 TWh) last year.
With regard to this data, De Vries refers to the research published in 2014 and concluded that the entire financial sector consumes up to 650 TWh per year (assuming that it will be 3 percent more by 2020 - 200 TWh) ). This research bypassed Bitcoin and concerned only the energy consumption of data centers, bank branches and ATMs.
Bitcoin energy consumption estimates, in turn, concern only consumption related to BTC mining, and thus there are no third parties such as stock exchanges, ATMs, wallet providers or payment services.
De Vries also notes that the carbon footprint of BTC transactions significantly outperforms traditional cashless banking transactions. It is reported that Bitcoin consumes between 491.4KWh and 765.4kWH per transaction, while the non-cash transaction only 0.4kWh. The bitcoin's annual carbon footprint ranges from 19 to 29.6 million metric tones of CO2 based on these data.
Resolving the transition to Proof of Stake?
Based on these data, De Vries concluded that the large energy costs associated with Bitcoin and the need for frequent replacement of mining equipment mean that renewable energy is not a sufficient solution to this problem.
Instead, it suggests that alternatives to Proof of Work (PoW) be sought for Bitcoin. He pointed out, for example, Ethereum and Vitalik Buterin, who said in December 2018 that Proof of Stake's future blockchains would be thousands of times more effective.
De Vries is also the author of an article published in May 2018, concluding that Bitcoin consumes approximately 0.5% of all world energy by the end of 2018.
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