Mining for bitcoin — by far the largest cryptocurrency by market cap — uses staggering amounts of electricity: last year, Cambridge University researchers calculated that bitcoin consumes approximately 121.36 terawatt-hours annually.
Technicians inspect bitcoin mining machines at a mining facility operated by Bitmain Technologies Ltd. in Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China in 2017.
The impetus for New York to take action is that two companies in recent years have bought and reopened once-shuttered fossil fuel-burning power plants in upstate New York, to perform proof-of-work mining on-site. Cryptocurrency mining firms have realized they can cut costs by drawing electricity directly from the power plant instead of paying the retail rate for electricity sent through the power grid.
“This is not really a game of people validating cryptocurrency in their homes anymore, it’s really become a very competitive process where it’s these companies that are competing to validate cryptocurrency,” Moran said. “The reason why they are, in many cases, firing up old power plants is because they need a tremendous amount of energy to conduct their operation. These computers use a lot of energy so they can be running 24/7 and compete.
A view of server room equipment at the BitRiver data centre in Bratsk, 460km north of Irkutsk, Russia in Jan. 2022.
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