Bitcoin's growing water footprint

Alex de Vries

doi:10.1016/j.crsus.2023.100004

Bitcoin's growing water footprint

Alex de Vries^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Finance

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Comment / Letter to the editor › Academic

Abstract

Amid growing concerns over the impacts of climate change on worldwide water security, Bitcoin's water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin's annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater. A change in the Bitcoin software could also significantly reduce the network's water footprint.

Original language	English
Article number	100004
Pages (from-to)	1-5
Number of pages	5
Journal	Cell Reports Sustainability
Volume	1
Issue number	1
Early online date	1 Dec 2023
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2023.100004
Publication status	Published - 26 Jan 2024

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© 2023 The Author(s)

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title = "Bitcoin's growing water footprint",

abstract = "Amid growing concerns over the impacts of climate change on worldwide water security, Bitcoin's water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166\% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin's annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater. A change in the Bitcoin software could also significantly reduce the network's water footprint.",

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AB - Amid growing concerns over the impacts of climate change on worldwide water security, Bitcoin's water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin's annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater. A change in the Bitcoin software could also significantly reduce the network's water footprint.

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Bitcoin's growing water footprint

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