Bitcoin halving reduced electricity consumption by 24%
- Bitcoin halving forced miners to disconnect the equipment.
- The technological progress will make mining less energy-intensive.
Shortly after the Bitcoin halving, the total energy consumption of BTC miners fell by almost a quarter, according to the data, provided by Digiconomist.
Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index shoes that Bitcoin miners consumed about 77.78 TWh/year before the halving. By the time of writing the figure has retreated to 57.9 TWh/year.
Most likely, a sharp drop in power consumption was caused by Bitcoin halving consequences as a lot of miners were forced to disconnect their less effective equipment to avoid losses.
Antminer devices are inefficient
According to the calculator from F2Pool, mining on popular devices by Bitmain, Antminer S9 and S9 SE, are not profitable at current Bitcoin prices as the cost of mined coins doesn’t cover the electricity bill. Even at a relatively low tariff of $ 0.05 per kWh.
However, the models like Antminer S19 Pro и Whatsminer M30S++ ae more cost-effective. As each device earns about $5 per day at a cost of electricity of $ 0.05 per kilowatt.
Mining devices will become greener
Over time, mining devices become more powerful and energy-efficient, which should also overall energy consumption. Therefore, the development of the mining industry will ensure a fast increase in hash rate.
Anyway, the energy intensity of the Bitcoin network is still impressive. For example, the amount of electricity consumed by BTC miners per year is approximately comparable to the energy consumption of Bangladesh or Israel.
One Bitcoin transaction consumes the electricity enough to supply the needs of an average American family for 18 days.
Author
Tanya Abrosimova
Independent Analyst
