Offset Bitcoin: A Project Designed to Make Bitcoin Carbon Neutral
Offset Bitcoin is a newly created project designed to counter the carbon footprint left behind by Bitcoin mining. They will be working together with the Cool Earth foundation in order to change the amount of CO₂ released into the atmosphere by Bitcoin mining.
Numbers & Goals
The Bitcoin network currently has an estimated annual carbon footprint of approximately 27,000 kt (kilotons of CO₂). The most cost-effective climate change charity can protect one acre (0.004 km²) of rainforest for approximately $85, which locks in 270 tons of CO₂. Therefore, offsetting the network's annual output of 27,000,000 tons would require 27,000,000 / 270 = 100,000 acres (405 km²) of protected rainforest. This would cost 100,000 * $85 = $8.5 million (SOURCE)
It would only take 8.5 million dollars to offset entire carbon footprint of Bitcoin, think about that number. This is a fraction of the daily trading volume of Bitcoin. To me, this number seems achievable, especially if you consider how much money is spent on a daily basis in the entire cryptocurrency industry.
The Plan & How You can Help
The Offset Bitcoin project will work together with the Cool Earth foundation in the first stages. The main goal is to raise funds through them, in order to make sure that the money is directly being spent on actually reducing CO₂. You can already make a donation to Cool Earth if you follow the link below. Aside from this, Offset Bitcoin has also just convinced Cool Earth to accept crypto payments, this will be implemented soon.
In the second stage they will be working together with the community to come up with new ways to further reduce Bitcoin's negative impact on the environment. Since this is a community oriented project, you can always join them by visiting their Bitcointalk thread
My Thoughts & Trust
Usually I'm always a bit wary of these sorts of initiatives, especially if there's money involved. Since Offset Bitcoin doesn't plan to directly take donations, I feel a lot better about this initiative. Donations are made through the official Cool Earth website, so you can be sure that the money is spent correctly.
I will also donate half of the post rewards of this post to this project once they accept donations in crypto. I will post an update once that has been done.
Visit the Offset Bitcoin Cool Earth campaign page
Check out the Offset Bitcoin thread on Bitcointalk for more information
This article was written on request of the Offset Bitcoin project manager.
All images belong to Offset Bitcoin, but were used with permission
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That's a wonderful idea, but I'm curious how they plan to achieve it. Renewable energy, I would assume.
Well, by donating to an organization that will actively fund initiatives to lower CO₂ output. There's more info in their BitcoinTalk thread.
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