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According to a press release carried by Eurekalert
In the first rigorously peer-reviewed article quantifying Bitcoin's energy requirements, a Commentary appearing May 16 in the journal Joule, financial economist and blockchain specialist Alex de Vries uses a new methodology to pinpoint where Bitcoin's electric energy consumption is headed and how soon it might get there.
The abstract of the article says
The Bitcoin network can be estimated to consume at least 2.55 gigawatts of electricity currently, and potentially 7.67 gigawatts in the future, making it comparable with countries such as Ireland (3.1 gigawatts) and Austria (8.2 gigawatts). [...]
The author offers a caveat:
[...] all of the methods discussed assume rational agents. There may be various reasons for an agent to mine even when this isn't profitable, and in some cases costs may not play a role at all when machines and/or electricity are stolen or abused.
[Other] reasons for an agent to mine Bitcoin at a loss might include [...] being able to obtain Bitcoin completely anonymously, libertarian ideology [...] or speculative reasons.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday May 21 2018, @03:10PM
194 gigawatts across the year, less than 10% of global electricity use, comprising of multiple industries that underpin advanced economies. According to the Global Scope slide, it includes all client devices, including TVs and game consoles, as well as data centers and production facilities. Not merely inefficient and redundant networking.
At least the carbon footprint of blocking ads is less than displaying them. And browsers can cache bulky scripts after loading them.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]