Crypto Miners' Electricity Use in Texas Would Equal Another Houston

[sl8]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-27/crypto-miners-in-texas-will-need-more-power-than-houston

Crypto Miners’ Electricity Use in Texas Would Equal Another Houston

ByNaureen S Malik
April 27, 2022, 3:30 PM EDT
Updated onApril 27, 2022, 5:47 PM EDT

- Ercot expects miners to require 6 gigawatts by mid-2023

- State has been aggressively courting cryptocurrency miners

The Texas grid operator expects crypto miners to increase electricity demand by up to 6 gigawatts by mid-2023, more than enough to power every home in Houston.

The forecast from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas is the first official estimate on how much stress miners are apt to put on the state’s electrical system. Officials expect 5 to 6 gigawatts of new demand over the next 12 to 15 months, the equivalent of up to about 1.2 million homes.

It’s just the tip of the iceberg. All told, about 17 gigawatts worth of crypto miners have inquired about plugging into Texas’s grid, according to Brad Jones, Ercot’s interim chief executive officer.

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[essaynnc]

1. so help me understand...

Crypto mining is performing heavy duty mathematical calculations and they're rewarded with bit coin or similar.

what are they calculating? is this something that will save the planet? check for extraterrestrials (SETI)?? Or something more frivolous, that's not worth the future for the extra electricity?

Perhaps crypto mining needs to be taxed to reflect its true cost to the environment???

[tanyev]

2. Good thing we got the power grid all fixed up. Oh wait.....

[Comfortably_Numb]

3. Jeebus... when it's hot, or cold, or windy I get a notice to conserve power

in my house because of stress on the grid. After the crypto bots start will they just send these notes out every day ending in “Y”…. Fucking Texas….