Climate change physicist and admirer of heterodox economics. I have crazy ideas about bitcoin. Tweets are my own, not my employer's.
Climatepunks use bitcoin.
Oct 20, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
Some accounting theory for bitcoin mining emissions:
The reason why claiming you have the full analysis with marginal emission accounting alone is disingenuous is because you have to first define whether you are framing your analysis as attributional or consequential.
THREAD.🧵
Attributional attribute or assign emissions within a defined boundary for a given entity (i.e. bitcoin miners on a grid). Consequential looks at what happens if you add or remove a unit of an entity (i.e. X amount of load on a grid). Your choice here dictates your methods.
Sep 30, 2022 • 21 tweets • 5 min read
OK, so I finally skimmed the new "digital crude" paper (@_BenjaminAJones / nature.com/articles/s4159…). Here are my thoughts: 1) The paper uses a known metric called, "the social cost of carbon" to determine what bitcoin's impact is. They settle on a... 1/21
fairly high price of $100/ton CO2eq, which is not what the US uses right now (which they note). It's about twice as much as what the Biden admin has set for their own measurements. 2) I don't have a problem with this metric. It measures i) changes in ag production; ii) damages...
Aug 4, 2022 • 22 tweets • 4 min read
This week in "Radical System Change: Bitcoin & Degrowth" I explore bitcoin's energy and resource use constraints, does it even have any? Maybe it'll just gobble them all up...
Trying the Doctorow format...🧵1/22
The full newsletter article can be found on my Medium page, please follow me there if you're a Medium user, I publish this weekly... 2/22
1) We are having a hydroxyl ion problem in the atmo due to increased CO from mega fires thanks to climate change, means CH4 stays in atmo longer. 2) Methane is 84x over a 20 yr period. 3) Mining landfill CH4 is net reduction in CO2eq.
Jul 30, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
Bitcoin is for anyone, it's a public utility at its core. Richard Spencer uses public bathrooms, the Internet, etc. Maybe we should ban him from eating?
Claiming bitcoin is causing "climate destruction" is an insult to the true gravity and causes of climate change.🧵
Our existing economic system is the reason for climate and ecological destruction.
Banking industry financed ~1.968 billion tons of CO2 in 2020.
Banks invested 4.6 trillion USD since the Paris Climate Agreement in '15.
JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BoA invested 1.2 trillion.
Jul 5, 2022 • 11 tweets • 2 min read
A new study found that methane emissions are a bigger worry than scientists thought. What this means for bitcoin mining... 1/🧵 theguardian.com/environment/20…
About 40% of emissions come from natural sources, 60% from landfills, cattle farming, and oil and gas extraction. The study found that the atmosphere's stock of hydroxyl radicals is lower than expected, possibly due to climate change induced megafires emitting carbon monoxide. 2/
Apr 24, 2022 • 31 tweets • 5 min read
The stupidity of state governments going after an industry that is one of many energy consumers and which uses not even 1% of global electricity, as if this will solve climate change. It won't. It won't even make a dent. 1/? (long 🧵)
Climate activists who are now obssesed with ending PoW are being used as pawns yet again. PoW is not the enemy. The enemy is the fossil fuel industry, the FIRE industry, and corrupt politicians. They have KNOWN for decades that climate change was a real threat and did nothing.
Mar 29, 2022 • 25 tweets • 6 min read
The latest attack on bitcoin makes it clear: Bitcoin is a threat to the existing financial system and its benefactors are using climate NGOs to do their dirty work. @Ripple CEO has teamed with @Greenpeace to play on emotions of people who care about the climate. This is wrong. 1/
Climate change is the greatest crisis that humanity has faced. Blaming Bitcoin's PoW instead of the existing financial system and their addiction to fossil fuels is missing the forest for the trees. I'm calling out @Greenpeace for being complicit in this climate denialism. 2/
Mar 10, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The question of whether bitcoin mining incentivizes renewable build-out is getting easier to answer. The old grid required a flexible supply-side, the new RE grid requires flexible demand-side. This means that we likely have to overbuild to maintain flexible demand. 1/6
Right now, bitcoin mining is the most flexible demand side load available. Even as other industries and devices begin to operate as flexible loads, mining will serve a special role due to its rapid up/down time and unique characteristics. 2/6
