[Cryptography] An academic paper on Bitcoin's energy consumption

[John Levine]

In article <7D7DEFFA-940A-4DFA-BAD4-346E45A46969 at bluematt.me> you write:
>> On Jan 10, 2021, at 02:50, Ray Dillinger <bear at sonic.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Because as long as the *rate* at which it can be produced is limited,
>> there will always be the opportunity cost of energy. ...

>The price of bulk power occasionally goes *negative* in some markets, you’re way of the mark, here.

Depending on how you look at it, you're both right. It is true, on
bright windy days the cost of power in parts of Europe has gone
negative as there isn't enough demand to soak up all of the solar and
wind power generated.  If you had bitcoin miners sitting on standby, ready
to turn on when the price drops and turn back off when it goes back up,
you could argue that they're not generating any carbon.

On the other hand, I am not aware of any miners actually doing that.
If we're going to build facilities to soak up peak power, I can think
of battery banks and pumped storage for those dark still winter
nights, or electrolysis to make H2 for ZEV trucks that are a lot more
socially useful than looking for hashes with leading zeros.

R's,
John