There is a large energy cost associated with mining bitcoin Pulsar Imagens/Alamy
The emissions associated with mining a single bitcoin have increased 126-fold in five years, creating an industry that, according to one measure, is more environmentally damaging than global beef production.
Mining bitcoin involves networks of computers competing to guess the solution to a mathematical puzzle. The process authenticates the cryptocurrency’s transactions, and the first miner to the solve the puzzle is awarded a significant amount of bitcoin. “Because it’s worth a lot of money, you have a lot of people who…
