Bitcoin Consumes 'More Electricity Than Argentina'
Provided by: BBC|Published on: April 27, 2021
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Articles/Websites
Subjects: Physics, Earth and Space Sciences, Economics
Authors: Cristina Criddle
Region: Global
Languages: English
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This article explains how Bitcoin, a type of cryptocurrency, consumes a tremendous amount of energy.
- It also questions Tesla's recent investment in Bitcoin, which seems to contradict its environmental stance.
- The article includes a short video about how cryptocurrency works.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- The article provides students with an example of the impacts of personal choices.
- The article and video can be used together or separately.
Additional Prerequisites
- Students should know how to read a bar graph.
Differentiation
- Students can brainstorm possible solutions to this issue, including government regulations, economic disincentives, or technological advancements.
- Cross-curricular connections can be made with math classes by using the graph from the article to teach about bar graphs and effective data visualization.
- Economics classes can use this resource to explore the unintended consequences of economic decisions.
This resource evaluates energy consumption from operating bitcoin as compared with Countries who consume terrawats of electricity, this is a good finding from Cambridge researchers as data in the chart depicts that using Bitcoin consumes more energy than Argentina, though data in the chat is not sufficient to infer the potency of Bitocin impact on climate in the future especially when the world is working towards a net zero emission in 2050, operationalizing bitcoin can undermine this target, thus, this resource is good to guide policy makers to achieve 100% clean energy while slowing down the value for bitcoin or cryptocurrency applications. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
