Bitcoin Mining Council Q2 report: Miners used more green energy and became more efficient

As the second quarter of 2022 ended, it is time again to look at the bitcoin (BTC) mining figures. How much electricity do the world’s BTC miners use, how efficient are they, and are they using more green energy? The Bitcoin Mining Council recently presented its Q2 report, and in this article, you’ll find an overview of the most important figures.

What is the Bitcoin Mining Council?

But first, what is the Bitcoin Mining Council, or BMC? The council was launched after a meeting in May 2021 between MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor and several US-based bitcoin miners. Their goal is to promote transparency and educate everyone interested in mining and its benefits.
The BMC has grown significantly since then and now consists of 45 mining companies representing 50,5% of the total computational power of the Bitcoin network. Members of the BMC provide data on their operations, and given that they represent the majority of the network, we can draw some interesting conclusions.

Bitcoin consumes 0,15% of the world’s energy production

Now let’s get to the new data that the BMC recently published. Often you hear that bitcoin mining is a wasteful activity, slurping up the world’s precious energy resources. Based on the council members’ data, the BTC mining industry only consumes 0.15% of global energy production. While globally, about 165,317 terawatt hours (TWh) are produced, miners use 253 TWh.
How does this translate into emissions, you may wonder. Because more and more miners use sustainable energy sources, this figure is smaller than the previously mentioned one. Worldwide, a whopping 34.8 billion metric tons (BMt) of CO2 is emitted into our atmosphere. Bitcoin miners produce 0.03 BMt of that, meaning they emit 0.086% of the global total CO2 emissions.

Bitcoin miners use green energy

Next up are the figures on sustainable energy sources. The trend has been that BTC miners continue to increase their green energy consumption. And in Q2 this trend continued. Of the BMC members’ energy mix, 66.8% comes from renewable sources. Based on these figures, the BMC estimates that globally, 59.5% of the miners’ energy mix is green. This is a slight increase of 2% compared to Q1.
Comparing this to countries, we can see that bitcoin mining is greener than in Germany, the European Union, and South Korea. Furthermore, the BMC concludes that the bitcoin mining industry as a whole uses less energy than industries such as gold mining, health care, and home appliances in the US.

The efficiency of BTC miners on the rise

Finally, we will look at the efficiency of bitcoin miners. It is profitable to mine bitcoins with more efficient rigs than your rival bitcoin miners. So, mining rig manufacturers have a clear incentive to make their machines as efficient as possible. In Q2, BTC miners’ power consumption rose 2%, while the hash rate rose 6%. When we divide these two figures, the mining efficiency increased by 3%. In addition, the energy consumption increased by 63% compared to last year, while the hash rate climbed by 137%, meaning the year-on-year mining efficiency increased by 46%.

What can we take away from this latest report? The bitcoin mining industry is thriving and growing while the efficiency is increasing. This, combined with the increased use of sustainable energy sources, Bitcoin is becoming a greener monetary network without sacrificing its decentralization and security. Do you want to mine bitcoins in a green way? GRN Energy is your strategic partner in finding and building sustainable locations. To learn more, plan a free call with one of our experts here.