HOUSTON, TX (08/18/2023) (readMedia)-- This week, ERCOT, Texas's power grid operator, is asking Texans to voluntarily conserve energy as temperatures climb above 110 degrees. Meanwhile, crypto-miners such as Riot Blockchain who use exorbitant amounts of energy are being paid by ERCOT to conserve energy. Jen Powis, Managing Attorney at Earthjustice's Gulf Office, issued the following statement:
"While ERCOT asks Texans to turn off their air conditioners during this deadly heatwave, it's a money-making opportunity for crypto miners. Last year, five Bitcoin mining operations earned a whopping $60 million out of hardworking Texans' pockets just from promising to shut off when asked. Instead of buying into conservative pundits' arguments against wind energy, Governor Abbott and ERCOT should stop paying crypto miners and start investing in common sense items like energy efficiency and more renewables to protect Texans' lives."
Extreme heat waves are the world's deadliest weather events. As temperatures climbed in Texas earlier this summer, emergency room visits surged and at least 13 people died in June alone. New research proves heat waves are made hotter and more deadly by climate change, fueled by excessive greenhouse gas emissions. And Texas's renewable energy sector has met the challenge, producing nearly a quarter of Texas's needs this summer despite Governor Abbot and ERCOT's failure to invest in these low cost alternatives.
Contributing to climate change and worsening heat waves, crypto-mining operations use massive amounts of energy - in Texas alone, at the rate crypto mines are expanding, by 2026 they will use as much electricity as the entire state of Florida. Since 2021, researchers tracked 2,234 MW of crypto mining facilities almost all built since mid-2021. Read more about crypto-mining in Texas, and the Responsive Reserve Service that pays crypto miners for agreeing to shut down to avoid blackouts.
Background
In its most recent report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned that Earth is likely to cross a critical and dire threshold for global warming within the next decade if we don't quickly and drastically reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. But after China banned proof-of-work crypto-mining (the process Bitcoin uses), citing, among other things, the environmental threats that mining poses to meeting emissions reduction goals, the U.S. is now hosting many energy-intensive proof-of-work crypto-mining operations. While these facilities of automated machines create few new jobs, they threaten the climate, in addition to small businesses, local economies, and natural resources.
Proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining is an energy-intensive process that requires thousands of machines whirring 24/7 to solve complex equations. The more machines that are running, the faster a coin is mined. Each one of these machines requires energy to run, plus more energy for cooling. Globally, Bitcoin mining consumes more energy each year than entire countries. Fossil-fueled mining facilities can also be major emitters of local air pollutants.
Earlier this year, the New York Times published an in-depth expose about the negative impacts of proof-of-work Bitcoin mining. In September 2022, the White House sounded the alarm about cryptocurrency mining - the Office of Science and Technology Policy released a report about the industry's climate threats and the need for regulation. But cryptocurrency mining continues to grow rapidly across the country. Earthjustice and the Sierra Club released a Guidebook, finding that in one year from mid-2021 to mid-2022, Bitcoin mining in the U.S. alone consumed as much electricity as four states combined, emitting 27.4 million tons of CO2 - equivalent to the emissions of as much as 6 million cars annually. More highlights from the Guidebook:
Read the Sierra Club and Earthjustice guidebook here.
About Earthjustice
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.