News U.S. Bitcoin Mining Consumed 50 Billion kWh of Energy in 2022

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How many billion kWhs did videogaming consume in 2022?
Oh no, not another one of those "vIdEo gAmEs cOnSuMe pOwEr tOo" people. Unlike crypto mining, gaming actually provides real value to people.

But to answer your question. From the article:
It seems that the White House's hand has been forced by their very own report, which estimates total Bitcoin mining energy consumption in 2022 at an eye-watering 50 billion kilowatt-hours (in fact, the estimate places consumption anywhere between the low of 30 billion kWh and a high of 60 billion kWh). That's greater power consumption than all operating computers in the United States put together - and within the margin of error of the countrywide electrical consumption for as basic a necessity as lighting.
Emphasis mine.

And the graph puts "Computers" at around 35 billion kWh (with crypto's low estimate also at around 35 billion kWh), which most likely includes videogaming on top of other, more productive tasks.

And let's not forget that crypto miners are just as likely to play video games as everyone else.
 
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But to answer your question. From the article: "That's greater power consumption than all operating computers in the United States put together"
Nice ... except the article is wrong. The author forgot to check his source, which specifically notes the estimate is only for residential home computers - excluding office and industrial computers, servers, etc. And the author's methodology for calculating crypto's share of electricity consumption in the US contains a glaring error which overstates the value substantially. Can you find it?

Oh no, not another one of those "vIdEo gAmEs cOnSuMe pOwEr tOo" people. Unlike crypto mining, gaming actually provides real value to people.
Says a "Living Today" journalist for Geico insurance. What an outstanding reference! However, I can easily find many more studies and references on the negative effects of videogaming. A wise man would conclude that videogaming has both positive and negative aspects ... as does cryptocurrency mining. Are you a wise man? Whenever the government gets involved in the business of choosing winners and losers, the consumer ultimately loses out.
 
Struggling to find the positive in crypto mining.
Snark aside, ignoring the purported benefits of crypto itself, the act of mining $50B in crypto adds $50B to the GDP, and provides jobs, tax revenues, and downstream spending, the same as any other $50B industry.

Furthermore, those of you who've spent your entire life without ever conducting a single financial transaction in anything other than stable US/EU currencies may struggle to see the benefits of a non-fiat currency, but a few years ago when Venezuela neared a hyperinflationary spiral and the government banned citizens from transporting or converting currency , and even from withdrawing their own money from the bank, hundreds of thousands of citizens with Bitcoin were able to escape the worst ravages of the effects. See the (paywalled) NYT article "When Venezuela banned its own currency" or the Venezuelan-written op-ed "How Bitcoin saved my family" for an informative summary.
 
Snark aside, ignoring the purported benefits of crypto itself, the act of mining $50B in crypto adds $50B to the GDP, and provides jobs, tax revenues, and downstream spending, the same as any other $50B industry.

Furthermore, those of you who've spent your entire life without ever conducting a single financial transaction in anything other than stable US/EU currencies may struggle to see the benefits of a non-fiat currency, but a few years ago when Venezuela neared a hyperinflationary spiral and the government banned citizens from transporting or converting currency , and even from withdrawing their own money from the bank, hundreds of thousands of citizens with Bitcoin were able to escape the worst ravages of the effects. See the (paywalled) NYT article "When Venezuela banned its own currency" or the Venezuelan-written op-ed "How Bitcoin saved my family" for an informative summary.
Bitcoin saved Venezuela?
Agreed.

But that devolves from Venezuela being a failed economy that needs 'saving'.

I'm out....
 
The negative affects of video games. I guess that would be getting too fat sitting in front of your television and that’s about it. All the rest of that stuff is bunk. Don’t believe anything you see iand less than half of what you read. Good advice given by my grandfather has served me well because this world is just too full of crap.
 
However, I can easily find many more studies and references on the negative effects of videogaming.
Of course you can. After all, if you wanted to, you could do the same for literally anything. Did you know drinking water could kill you? And why not talk about negative effects of the number 1 consumer of electricity: refrigeration? Or those of the number 2: lighting?

We both know why: because you know they have positive effects as well, and because you know how inconvenient your own life will be without those.

And the same is true for gaming. At the end of the day, humans need entertainment. Whether it be in the form of games or TV/movies or books, we don't like boredom. But if you can swear to God that you won't ever need any form of entertainment while mining cryptocurrencies, that you'll never need to read a novel or comic book, or watch TV/YouTube/whatever, or go to the cinema, or play video games, or listen to music, or visit a theme park, etc. while you're mining at the same time, maybe then we can talk about comparing crypto mining to video gaming. Until then, you're just comparing apples to oranges.

Which leads us to the next question: can you find any study or reference on the positive effects of crypto? And by that I mean the positive effects of crypto itself, not just the benefit of having access to some alternative currency, which may or may not be crypto, and of which we already have plenty that don't require destroying the planet. Nor the benefit of making money without effort, which can easily be done by investing in the stock market and cashing in on the dividends without the need to waste an astronomical amount of power. I'm talking about the benefits of crypto in and of itself.

A wise man would conclude that videogaming has both positive and negative aspects ... as does cryptocurrency mining. Are you a wise man?
A loaded question. Classic!

Am I supposed to call myself wise and make myself seem untrustworthy as a result? Or should I say I'm not, and still make myself look untrustworthy? What about you? Are you a wise man? No need to answer that question. Whether or not you are capable of good judgement is already plenty apparent in your arguments.

If you were a wise man, you wouldn't be comparing the power consumption of gaming, which:
to the power consumption of cryptocurrency mining, which:
  • may run on multiple rigs per miner,
  • 24/7 every day of the year,
  • and completely independently of how the miner is feeling or what they are doing, including the fact that they may be playing video games at the same time on yet another machine.

Furthermore, those of you who've spent your entire life without ever conducting a single financial transaction in anything other than stable US/EU currencies may struggle to see the benefits of a non-fiat currency, but a few years ago when Venezuela neared a hyperinflationary spiral and the government banned citizens from transporting or converting currency , and even from withdrawing their own money from the bank, hundreds of thousands of citizens with Bitcoin were able to escape the worst ravages of the effects.
Except that is not a benefit of Bitcoin as a cryptocurrency. It's the benefit of having access to a relatively stable currency, such as USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, etc. That is exactly how Zimbabwe got out of their very own hyperinflationary spiral, which they had been stuck in for several years, and is not a feat limited to cryptocurrencies.

Notice how the fiat currencies I've mentioned are actually even more stable than Bitcoin, and thus likely to be even more beneficial to Venzuela's economy. Also notice how Venezuela's adoption of the Bitcoin as the official currency has effectively made the Bitcoin into Venezuela's fiat currency, except that Venezuela's backing is unlikely to impact the Bitcoin's stability in any meaningful way. Once the Bitcoin bubble pops, Venezuela will be left with yet another hyperinflationary crisis, and will require yet another currency to solve, crypto or not.

Try again.
 
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