Thread by @cmiller_web

Did you know that #PC #gaming is estimated (by actual scientists not anons on the internet) to use as much energy annualized as the #BTC network? And more than #NFTs?

No? Well here's a 🧵for you then:

2/ TLDR: estimates for 2020 say PC gaming alone (not taking into account console or mobile gaming) use ~125TWh of electricity annualized. The BTC network is actively measured and is currently estimated to use ~129TWh of electricity annualized.

3/ Before we get any further here's some sources:
For the BTC energy calcs: ccaf.io/cbeci/index

At first I was a leery of this source bc they don't show their calculations in a very accessible place. BUT it's good enough for the traditional media to rail against btc so... 🤷‍♂️

4/ sites.google.com/site/greeningt…

Is a site that does a good job of summarizing the study I'm citing for PC gaming energy use. You can get the actual study from this link.

5/ eia.gov/international/…

Just shows a general estimate of electricity (not energy, mind you, which includes things like transportation, etc) of countries in TWh (billion kWh)

6/ Okay! Now down to the good stuff. If you just go look at those data sources, you don't actually need to read this thread. But I'll go ahead and hit the highlights for you.

When you hear "Bitcoin and Crytpo and NFTs use more electricity than whole COUNTRIES!" It's 100% right

7/ But, as with most things, this requires a lot of context. When you look at the numbers, it's pretty clear to see that a base statement like that doesn't tell the whole story (and exposes some uncomfortable truths about global electricity use)

8/ If you treat BTC as a nation-state, it's energy use puts it at around #30 in the rankings of nation-state energy use. Consequently, PC gaming comes in at about #32. That means there are about 200 nation-states using less energy per year than btc and video games.

9/ Of course, this doesn't tell the full story. Take a look at the data, you'll probably notice something shocking.

10/ The top 10 nation-states account for nearly 75% of GLOBAL electricity consumption, with the US and China holding about 75% of the top 10! Crazy.

Friendly reminder: the numbers for BTC and PC Gaming are ~129 and ~125 respectively.

11/ Keep in mind these numbers are likely to include BTC mining and gaming in the estimates from 2019. But the disparity is staggering.

AND let me remind you again, this is ONLY electricity use, not generalized energy.

12/ Some people may raise their hands and say, "But gaming is becoming more energy efficient every single year by virtue of improved computing components!" To those people I submit a humble: so is BTC. They use the same components.

13/ There's also considering other cryptos, ETH (the next biggest energy consumer) is ~1/10th of the energy consumption of BTC. You know what consumes ~1/10th the energy of a gaming PC? A gaming console. Assuming no more console gamers than pc gamers (which...😬) it's the same.

14/ Let's take a brief detour for #NFTs here since they get the worst wrap. Most NFTs are found on ETH (see prev tweet). tldr: NFTs are at worst as bad as console gaming. 🤷‍♂️ AND with the eth PoS merge they will be about 100x LESS energy intensive. (~ a year from now maybe)

15/ Moral of the story here? Instead of pointing fingers at electricity consumption, we should be pushing for higher standards and more efficient electricity generation. Especially in nations with a disproportionately high electricity consumption rate.

16/ At the end of the day, video games are good things. They build communities, provide entertainment, and create culture. Crypto does these things too (and more). We should be building up these things, and using them to enact change. Fighting doesn't help.

17/ It's really not that complicated. Yes BTC and other proof of work cryptos use a lot of energy. No it isn't going to be the sole destroyer of the planet. Yes video games do just about as much harm. No we shouldn't cancel NFTs, BTC, crypto, or video games.

18/ So, next time you see someone talking about NFTs or BTC destroying the environment, just point them to these data sources (or this thread). Remind them that there are a LOT of things to think about around such complicated issues as energy and climate. The end.

Also, someone just pointed out to me that this probably doesn't include the actual game servers hosting multiplayer games or databases holding player data...