As closely monitored by ELM over the last couple of years, the expansion of cryptocurrency mining in the United States has resulted in the industry simply devouring the country’s energy resources (see here for general background on cryptocurrency mining effects on energy use, and here for an explainer on the federal government’s increased attention to crypto’s energy use).
Some analysts have concluded that the crypto mining industry releases between 25 and 50 million tons of CO2 annually – roughly the same amount as the U.S. railroad industry. Incredibly, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), only 137 commercial crypto mining operators account for 2.3 percent of national energy usage.
Therefore, local legislators (such as in New York State, as reported by ELM here), activists, and communities in which crypto mining farms have been multiplying (also covered by ELM here) have become increasingly concerned about the crypto mining industry’s perceived threat to the nation’s electrical grid. Especially concerning is the threat to Texas’s standalone grid since it voluntarily operates its own unreliable and delicate grid — particularly problematic given crypto mining’s popularity in the Lone Star State – as well as to the country’s ability to combat the effects of climate change.
Consequently, two weeks ago the EIA issued a press release announcing it would be initiating an “emergency” collection of data via a provisional electricity-consumption survey directed to the top energy-gobbling cryptocurrency mining companies operating in the United States. The EIA administrator explained, “We will specifically focus on how the energy demand for cryptocurrency mining is evolving, identify geographic areas of high growth, and quantify the sources of electricity used to meet cryptocurrency mining demand.” (Notably, states in which crypto mining has exploded are Texas, New York, and Georgia.)
The EIA will also be requesting public comment on the crypto mining energy use data. The agency will particularly focus on gathering input from community members who live or work in the vicinity of the survey-targeted facilities, on neighbors who have especially suffered from significantly higher electricity costs from having to rely on more expensive sources of local electricity, and on those for whom noise pollution has resulted from non-stop operations.