In 2018 bitcoin-mining will consume 0.5% of global electricity

The blockbuster evangelist and financial economist Alex de Vries described a new methodology for estimating the energy consumption of the bitcoin network in the coming years. According to his forecast, by the end of 2018, bitcoin mining will consume 0.5% of the total electricity consumed in the world.
Economic model of mining
In his article in the publication, Joule de Vries used complex economic models in combination with publicly available data on electricity costs and mining statistics.
According to the expert's estimates, the global minimum requirement for the bitcoin network is currently 2.55 gigawatts, which is equivalent to the consumption of electricity by Ireland, the 118th country in the world in terms of the size of the land area. The researcher also claims that this volume is equal to half of a percent of total electricity consumption in the world.
In addition, each transaction through the bitcoin network uses the amount of electricity that an average household in the Netherlands can provide.
Costs will grow
De Vries, who currently works with PwC Netherlands, believes that the world's number one crypto currency by the end of 2018 can consume about 7.7 gigawatts to power its grid, which corresponds to the volume of electricity consumption in Austria. The expert emphasizes that this will amount to 0.5% of the total electricity consumed in the world.
The huge costs associated with bitcoin mining - a process that "marks" transactions and performs extensive calculations - have been subject to criticism for many years. According to De Vries, with the increase in the size of the network, the costs will only increase, reaching 5% of the total amount of electricity consumed in the world in the future.
"You always generate numbers. The machines that you use for this, consume electricity. If you want to get more, you need to increase the processing power, "the expert concludes.
Search for an equilibrium point
The application of economic principles to the bitcoin protocol allowed de Vries to establish the supposed equilibrium point of the network, that is, the situation where the stimulation of the miners becomes equal to the costs of computers, hardware and electricity.
With this in mind, de Vries extrapolated existing data to equilibrium point data to determine the cost of electricity and the economic impact of the bitcoin network over the next few years.
In this case de Vries indicates the probability of error in his calculations. The main problem is the accuracy of the public data that he used. It should be remembered that mining companies such as Bitmain are reluctant to share information about their activities, and official documents relating to their operations are mostly inaccessible, he added.