Bitcoin Mining Using Sustainable Energy With a Record High of 54.5% in 2023

cryptonews.com:

Sustainable energy use for Bitcoin (BTC) mining reached an all-time high of 54.5% in 2023, a 3.6% increase throughout the calendar year.

The analysis, conducted by The Bitcoin ESG Forecast, compared Bitcoin’s sustainable energy mix to other industries using publicly available data over the past four years.

The results indicate that Bitcoin mining currently ranks as the largest consumer of sustainable energy among subsectors.

Source: The Bitcoin ESG Forecast

Furthermore, the industry has made notable progress in increasing its reliance on sustainable energy sources, surpassing other global sectors.

One significant finding concerns the use of off-grid Bitcoin mining operations powered by methane emissions.

The research identified that small oil producers in Canada and the U.S. pay for permits to flare natural gas. Some of them also release methane directly, which is challenging to detect.

However, certain mining companies have adopted a more environmentally conscious approach. This happens through using vented methane to generate electricity for Bitcoin mining.

This practice reduces the environmental impact compared to venting the gas into the atmosphere.

As a result, the Bitcoin network now mitigates 7.3% of its emissions without relying on offsets. This is a new record high and surpasses all other industries in non-offset-based emission mitigation.

The report also mentioned some additional advancements in off-grid renewable mining. One example is Tether’s expansion into hydro mining in Latin America and the discovery of more off-grid methane-mitigating mining operations.

These developments have contributed to Bitcoin’s increased reliance on sustainable energy sources.

Following the mining bans in China and the effective