Bitcoin Mining Council Confirms Year-over-year Improvements in Sustainability
The Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) is a voluntary cohort of Bitcoin miners that want to share best mining practices and educate the public on Bitcoin. As an open forum, the council strives to be transparent with their concerns and findings.
On April 25th, 2022 the BMC announced the results of its 2022 first quarter survey and compared their findings to last year. Overall, all metrics point to greater efficiency in the Bitcoin mining network along with higher participation. Data was collected from 50% of the global Bitcoin Network or from entities that provide 100.9 exahash (EH) of the world’s hashpower.
Data reveals that the Bitcoin industry is estimated to have a sustainable electricity mix of 58.4% while BMC members are currently utilizing electricity with a 64.6% sustainable power mix.
In the first quarter of 2021 mining efficiency went from 12.6 EH per gigawatt (GW) and in Q1 2022 that number jumped to 20.5 EH per GW. This 63% increase shows that the global Bitcoin Network’s mining efficiency is increasing. Sustainable electricity (renewable sources of energy) also increased by 59% since last year.
These metrics show that Bitcoin mining is one of the most sustainable industries and will become more efficient over time. CEO of Microstrategy Michael Saylor attributes this efficiency increase to the miners that left China and settled in more western countries. More inefficient mining equipment was replaced along with an increase in using more renewable energy sources. Hashrate has overall increased 23% while energy usage decreased by 25% since Q1 2021.
Co-founder of Core Scientific Darin Feinstein addressed his hopes for a more transparent and fact based approach to the Bitcoin mining industry in the future. “As sunlight is the best disinfectant, it is important for the world to get the real facts about the amount of energy used and carbon released by the Bitcoin Network. We hope that those with journalistic integrity honor their commitment to providing truthful media and news with use of this ground-breaking data, accessible to all,” he says.