Feds: Crypto Mining Consumes 2.3% Of US Electricity

February 3, 2024 Business, Technology

From the Energy Department:

Electricity demand associated with U.S. cryptocurrency mining operations in the United States has grown very rapidly over the last several years. Our preliminary estimates suggest that annual electricity use from cryptocurrency mining probably represents from 0.6% to 2.3% of U.S. electricity consumption.

This additional electricity use has drawn the attention of policymakers and grid planners concerned about its effects on cost, reliability, and emissions. Key challenges associated with tracking cryptocurrency mining energy use include the difficulty of identifying cryptocurrency mining activity among millions of U.S. end-use customers and the dynamic nature of the crypto market, where mining assets can be moved rapidly to areas with lower electricity prices.

Although cryptocurrency mining began in the United States about a decade ago, the activity began to expand rapidly in 2019. Recent growth is largely due to cryptocurrency mining operations relocating to the United States from China after that country cracked down on digital currency mining in 2021.

The primary operating cost of a cryptocurrency mining facility is expenditure for electricity. The computational effort needed to support profitable cryptocurrency mining consumes large amounts of electricity to operate the machines as well as to cool equipment to prevent overheating. Consequently, owners are constantly seeking various alternatives to acquire substantial amounts of power at the lowest possible cost.

Read the full press release.



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