The Energy Information Agency is starting the process to require cryptocurrency miners to submit energy consumption data after a previous attempt faced legal challenges.
By Keaton Peters, Inside Climate New
“The Energy Information Agency is starting the process to require cryptocurrency miners to submit energy consumption data after a previous attempt faced legal challenges.”
“The fast-growing cryptocurrency industry is a major consumer of electricity, but no one—not even the U.S. government—knows exactly how much energy goes into the armada of computers used to ‘mine’ Bitcoin and other digital assets. The U.S. Energy Information Agency estimates that cryptocurrency mining uses between 0.6 percent and 2.3 percent of all electricity per year, but the agency may soon be able to access more precise information.
In the coming months, the EIA is planning to release the draft of a new survey that will require disclosure from companies in the cryptocurrency mining industry. On Wednesday, during a “listening session,” EIA officials laid out the process for creating the survey, which is typical of how EIA collects energy consumption data from manufacturers and commercial buildings.
How does cryptocurrency affect climate change?
Bitcoin mining, the process by which bitcoins are created and transactions are finalized, is energy-consuming and results in carbon emissions, as about half of the electricity used is generated through fossil fuels.
“Most of the time for us, we are just re-approving surveys, so it’s not usually very controversial. That might not be true this time,” said Stephen Harvey, a senior advisor to the EIA administrator, who facilitated the webinar discussion.
This marks the government’s second attempt to find out exactly how much energy cryptocurrency mining uses. Earlier this year, amid energy shortages in the dead of winter, the administration sent out an emergency survey to assess Bitcoin mining’s energy footprint.”
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