8 thoughts to “Open Thread Non-Petroleum, February 20, 2020”

  1. We’ve got a manufactured energy problem folks. A new one. A massive one.
    Cryptocurrency. I am no expert on this, but I read a similar story from differing sources.

    “In fact, if you add all electricity used by Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook [datacenters, etc] together, you still are at about 1/4th the amount of power that bitcoin uses today.
    “Currently, about 146 million transactions are made every year through bitcoin. Our current financial system, which includes bank transfers, credit card transactions, paypal transfers, and much more, well, that amounts to a whopping 500 billion transactions a year.
    “If bitcoin had to replace all 500 billion yearly transactions and its power requirement scaled as it has thus far, the whole world would need to generate 18 times as much electricity as it does today just to power this financial system. ”

    And no one , no organization, no committee of chosen leaders, no governing board, no group subject to democratic or political pressure
    is in charge.
    Its a snowball rolling downhill and gathering speed, with no steering wheel.

    I am not arguing the relative merit of one money system over another.
    Just pointing out that this cryptocurrency version of value exchange and record just so happens to require a massive energy input, or else it simply disappears into the coldness of space.

    For your reading pleasure-
    https://cleantechnica.com/2021/02/20/everything-about-bitcoin/

    2. Hmmm. The world uses about 20 trillion kilowatt-hours per year,right now. 18 times that would be about 360TkWhs. Divide that into half a trillion transactions and you get 720 kWhs per transaction. At current whole sale power prices that’s about $50 per transaction. Could that be?

    3. Great topic Hick, the crypto story is bonkers! I wonder when the great sucking sound will begin at the exits?

      “Bitcoin has a carbon footprint comparable to that of New Zealand, producing 36.95 megatons of CO2 annually, according to Digiconomist’s Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index, an online tool created by data scientist Alex de Vries. It consumes as much power as Chile — around 77.78 TWh — according to Digonomist’s estimates.”
      Source- https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/05/bitcoin-btc-surge-renews-worries-about-its-massive-carbon-footprint.html
      Reference- https://digiconomist.net/bitcoin-energy-consumption

      Here’s one from an alternate point of view, what’s the pejorative for crypto enthusiasts?
      https://www.coindesk.com/the-last-word-on-bitcoins-energy-consumption

      1. The Digiconomist site gives an estimate of 657 kWhs per transaction, compared to .001 kWhs per Visa transaction.

        657kWhs is nuts. Again, that’s very roughly $40-$50 in pure energy costs. So, buy a hamburger for $4, and pay $40 in transaction costs!?!?!

  2. Some time last year I said here that we would get over 500,000 known Covid deaths here in the USA by the end of Feb.
    Sounded a little crazy at the time, at least to me. But the ingredients were in place.
    I was a week late.
    I would have rather been very wrong on this.

    1. My fat ass 62 year old non working sister living in the rich white Republican suburbs of Atlanta has already got both of her vaccine shots

  3. Due to the early posting of the November World update by the EIA, a November update has been posted one day after the October update was posted. If you have started a comment, consider copying it over to the new Non-Petroleum thread.

    A new open Thread Non-Petroleum has been posted.

    http://peakoilbarrel.com/open-thread-non-petroleum-february-21-2020/

    A new thread October Non-OPEC oil production has been posted.

    http://peakoilbarrel.com/november-non-opec-oil-production-jumps/

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