Life Cycle Assessment of Bitcoin Mining

This
study estimates the environmental impact of mining Bitcoin,
the most well-known blockchain-based cryptocurrency, and contributes
to the discussion on the technology’s supposedly large energy
consumption and carbon footprint. The lack of a robust methodological
framework and of accurate data on key factors determining Bitcoin’s
impact have so far been the main obstacles in such an assessment.
This study applied the well-established Life Cycle Assessment methodology
to an in-depth analysis of drivers of past and future environmental
impacts of the Bitcoin mining network. It was found that, in 2018,
the Bitcoin network consumed 31.29 TWh with a carbon footprint of
17.29 MtCO2-eq, an estimate that is in the lower end of
the range of results from previous studies. The main drivers of such
impact were found to be the geographical distribution of miners and
the efficiency of the mining equipment. In contrast to previous studies,
it was found that the service life, production, and end-of-life of
such equipment had only a minor contribution to the total impact,
and that while the overall hashrate is expected to increase, the energy
consumption and environmental footprint per TH mined is expected to
decrease.