Bitcoin Energy Consumption

The energy consumption of the bitcoin network is not inherent to proof of work as a consensus mechanism. Bitcoin uses a difficulty setting to keep the rate of block creation relatively constant even as the hashing power dedicated to it increases. The reason so much energy is being used boils down to speculation in the price of bitcoin. At $10,000 per coin and with a block reward of 12.5 coins, successfully mining a block yields $125,000. That means that for each individual miner it would be prof

"Mining" means adding transactions to the blockchain. Ad absurdum, if no one transacted bitcoin, there would be nothing to mine. And contrary to what some claim, given Bitcoin's fixed block size and a few other constrained parameters, there is a very clear (and enormous) electrical power cost per transaction (with some range given that transactions are not fixed size - the more participants in a single transaction, and the more metadata, the higher the power cost per transaction).

The bitcoin network has a limited number of transactions per second that it can process (Limited by block size). Last time I checked the network was basically at the limit so per transaction is not an insane way of looking at it.I get what you mean, if you decide not to make a transaction, the energy still gets spent but the more you use bitcoin the more valuable it becomes which incentivizes miners to keep mining. Also someone elses transaction will just slot in to fill the gap left since th

You are incorrect. Bitcoin does not "have to" consume more energy to process more transactions. Energy and tx rate are uncorrelated. And the energy cost per transaction is falling. Again, see section 5 of http://blog.zorinaq.com/bitcoin-mining-is-not-wasteful/

Bitcoin's high electricity usage comes from finding the block (header), not from processing the transactions inside it, i.e. the same energy is used to find a block with 0 transactions or 10,000 transactions.So, more transactions don't cause higher electricity usage.All miners run similar hardware and software so the only way to be competitive is to find cheaper energy sources, which is why Bitcoin mining scoops up energy that is either very cheap, renewable or would be wasted ot

Bitcoin uses a proof of work system as a form of security in a decentralised system. At the end of the day, there's a certain cost per block, which approaches the reward for mining that block. Today you can fit hundreds of transactions into one such block, imagine a block like a mail package that holds all the world's transactions of the last 10 minutes or so, which is sent to everyone else who record those transactions, and imagine posting that package has a price. It's technical

Nope. Bitcoin transactions require wasting energy. It is built into the very fabric of bitcoin. Currently, the energy wasters ("miners") are compensated by the minting of new bitcoins, and some transaction fees. As the number of bitcoins asymptomatically approaches it's maximum, the energy wasters are still compensated, but more and more through transaction fees.

The costs in mining Bitcoin are not really per transaction. They are per block, and a block can include many transactions. The technology is also changing. It is wrong to assume more transactions imply more energy usage.

That's not how Bitcoin mining works.A certain amount of bitcoin -- the amount determined by a schedule that was defined before the network became operational -- is given as a mining reward every 10 minutes. The incentives of the individual miners is such that the expenses of the miners (collectively) equals the mining reward -- and the major mining expense is electricity.If the mining reward is cut in half, the electricity consumption of the network is cut in half, too.In contrast,

This is very wrong. It does not work that way at all.Volume or value of transactions has nothing to do with the energy expended.The energy is needed to calculate a mathematic proof that makes sure your transaction cannot be reversed or tampered with.This mathematic proof on average is calculated every 10 minutes, with no correlation to the number of transactions.You make a transaction, and if the bitcoin network has expended 1TWh after you sent it, at least 2TWh are needed to reverse