Can US idle home appliances provide years of energy for Bitcoin? Cambridge University Innovation BTC Mining Index

The issue of energy consumption in the Bitcoin network has long been the focus of debate among loyal supporters and critics. Digiconomist's data is the most cited, saying that if Bitcoin is a country, the network consumes the same amount of energy per year as Colombia, making it the 42nd largest energy consumer in the world.

At the same time, a report by Coinshares made a statement on this figure, saying that most of the energy is produced from renewable energy.

The Cambridge Alternative Finance Centre, a research institute of the University of Cambridge Business School, yesterday released the CBECI (Button Bitcoin Power Consumption Index) Index, which aims to calculate the total annual electricity consumption of the Bitcoin network in real time.

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CBECI counts the total annual energy consumption of the Bitcoin network and updates every 30 seconds. The researchers also provided a tool to compare Bitcoin's power consumption levels with other power usage cases and provide a range of parameters to provide more comprehensive real-time data.

(Bitcoin mining power statistics, image source: CBECI )

As of press time, the bitcoin mining power data given by CBECI is estimated to be 7.57 gigawatts (GW), and the average annual consumption is expected to be 53.01 terawatt hours (TWh).

The cryptocurrency enthusiasts on Twitter have noticed some interesting metrics proposed by CBECI. For example, in the United States alone, some household devices are always on but useless, and the wasted electricity each year can provide four years of energy for the Bitcoin network.

In addition, the Bitcoin network can consume 11 years of electricity for all kettles in the UK and 1.5 years for Europe.

According to CBECI estimates, Bitcoin mining accounts for approximately 0.24% (20,863 TWh) of total global electricity use each year. A chart comparing the Bitcoin network to the total electricity consumption of countries across the globe shows that Bitcoin ranks 43rd among the global “countries”, many more than Romania, Denmark, Israel, Singapore and Uzbekistan. The country consumes more electricity.

The Cambridge Alternative Financial Center stated that the purpose of the index was to provide objective, neutral data for use by decision makers, regulators, researchers and stakeholders, and to help debate the sustainability and environmental impact of Bitcoin mining. .

The agency said that so far, there is almost no reliable statistics on the electricity consumption of Bitcoin, because most organizations only provide lagging data, so a more comprehensive analysis of the carbon emissions of the encryption industry is needed.

It is reported that the next stage of the index will give a global distribution map of mining equipment.

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