Bitcoin is notoriously popular for its massive energy consumption. The top cryptocurrency’s blockchain consumes enormous energy to keep it afloat. A Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index report reveals a considerable decline in Bitcoin Blockchain’s energy consumption. The total energy use by Bitcoin Network has been reduced to 11 Gigawatt (an average daily usage), an almost 27% decline from its 15 Gigawatt consumption in April.
The CCAF maintains the index, which estimates the power consumption of Bitcoin miners. The CCAF uses a theoretical maximum and minimum demand to estimate prices and then makes a guess at actual consumption.
Prices fell halfway from their April 12, 2021 record high of $63,558 to $29,796 on July 19. It took several weeks for the data to show that the power demand for Bitcoin was slowing down. Bitcoin monthly power consumption hits the peak of 10.67 terawatt-hours(TWh) in May 2022.
Countries, where Bitcoin mining processes are prevalent are taking actions to prohibit mining from saving energy. Bitcoin consumes nearly 129 TerraWatt-hours of electricity annually. The figure exceeds the total energy usage of Norway, a country with 5 million people. The current reduction in power consumption is attributed to the latest crypto crash that brought Bitcoin price to record the lowest price in the past 2 years.
Bitcoin mining is also moving towards using more sustainable energy instead of traditional after mounting criticism of energy wastage. Uzbekistan, a soviet country, has recently moved to complete use of green energy for the cryptocurrency mining process.