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Comment by randomhodler84 | Hacker News Reader

It’s a good thing. Secure money is pretty much one of the most important thing we have invented in this age. The energy today is nothing to the energy can harness tomorrow. The planet burners ain’t the energy buyers // it’s the energy sellers. Fix production to be green and grow grow grow.

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Just like that, “fix” production?

Wow, glad to know you have the global carbon emissions problem in hand!

Back in the real world, until we have actually got that problem in hand, PoW cryptocurrencies are a huge extra amount of consumption, where we already have more consumption than green energy producers can keep up with. And now crypto miners are bringing decommissioned fossil fuel plants back on line in some places, purely to service PoW.

The planet burners are the buyers. Sorry.

I’m not a fan of the fossil power plants coming online, but this is one small example. Many fossil fuel plants actually increased production during the pandemic too. Nuclear plants were taken offline too. But this is not cryptocurrency to blame. The fundamental disconnect here is that you want to tell people how they can and can’t use energy. That’s authoritarian nonsense and I reject your wishes. I am saying use it how you wish, but optimize it to be green. Ideally, the use will drive it to be more green as that is the cheapest and more sustainable way to generate power in the long run. Do you see the difference in position?

Green and crypto are incompatible ideas. You don't waste for the sake of wasting when you're looking to be green.

Banks use way more electricity just cooling and heating their offices for the meat sacks that run their business than crypto ever will.

1. Doubtful, as Bitcoin alone uses more power than entire countries

2. Banks provide orders or magnitude more services than cryptocurrency ever will

How about some proof instead of pulling numbers out of your ass?

Disagree. Waste is subjective, and ultimately not for you to decide. If the miners do not find it wasteful, who are you, the non-economic participant to say it is?

Green and crypto are quite different things, supply and demand — green is about production, the only important part. How we generate energy in a clean and sustainable way.

Crypto is about consumption, and you have no business telling others how they should spend energy. You can however incentivize the consumers to do it cleanly. You can be green and also pro-energy usage.

Being green doesn’t mean being a bully and telling people what they can and can’t do.

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