2.4.0. Challenges of POW Mining
As the demand for Bitcoin mining grows, ASIC machines are becoming quite expensive. One ASIC machine costs between 1 000 and 35 000 USD, depending on the mining efficiency. The newer models are more efficient and more expensive than older ASIC machines.
In addition, POW mining requires high electricity costs, which are raising environmental concerns. According to Forbes, a handy comparison page shows that electricity usage for Bitcoin mining represents 0.51 percent of global electricity production and 0.59 percent of total electricity consumption.
Currently, the energy consumption for Bitcoin mining is estimated at about 120 terawatts per hour, the equivalence of the electricity usage of a small populated country like Botswana.
In another study published by Galaxy Digital, a cryptocurrency investment firm, the energy consumption of the entire bitcoin network was found to be 113.89 terawatts per hour, of which 99 per cent came from the mining computers.
Indeed, the POW mining industry is enormously energy-intensive and many detractors believe it is damaging.
However, despite such high energy consumption, reports show that Bitcoin mining only uses half the energy of the traditional banking system, which uses about 263.72 terawatts per hour. Also, Bitcoin mining consumes far less electricity than gold mining, which takes about 240.61 terawatts per hour.
In other words, those crypto sceptics who negatively criticise POW mining of Bitcoin on the basis of electricity consumption don’t really have any basis to justify their biases against cryptos when the statistics are compared with other sectors of economy.