Bitcoin miners in the United States have reportedly spent a staggering $2.7 billion on electricity in the first few months of 2024. According to Paul Hoffman, an analyst at Best Brokers, Bitcoin mining in the US has consumed a massive 20,822.62 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of electric power since the beginning of the year. This translates to an expenditure of $2,667,378,196.47 based on the average commercial electricity rate of $0.1281 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as of February.
Hoffman further elaborated on the energy consumption, stating that the amount of energy used for Bitcoin mining in the US could charge every electric vehicle in the country 87.52 times or power 1,983,107 households for a year, which equates to 1.51% of all US households.
On a global scale, Bitcoin miners have mined 116,550 BTC, valued at $8.2 billion, so far this year. US miners contributed to 44,102 BTC or 37.84% of the global production. Before the halving event in April, the electricity required to mine 1 BTC was 407,059.01 kWh, costing approximately $52,144.26. However, after the halving, the power needed to mine 1 BTC increased to 862,635.55 kWh, amounting to a cost of around $110,503.61 at average commercial rates.
Despite the significant energy consumption, Bitcoin mining remains the only major global industry that relies primarily on sustainable energy sources. A report from The Bitcoin ESG Forecast in January revealed that the use of sustainable energy in Bitcoin mining reached a new all-time high of 54.5% in 2023, with a 3.6% overall increase throughout the year.
Following the mining ban in China and the effective prohibition in Kazakhstan, miners have predominantly shifted to greener grids in North America or sustainable off-grid locations. To date, approximately 19.5 million Bitcoin has been mined out of the total supply of 21 million.
Image: [Insert image of historical annualized electricity consumption of Bitcoin mining from Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index]
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