As Bitcoin surges to new heights, so do concerns over its energy use

Earlier this year, the Department of Energy sought to do a survey on the total power usage of crypto operations throughout the country.

But that plan was scrapped following legal pushback from those in the industry, leaving a big question mark about the impacts of crypto mining on electrical grids and greenhouse gas production.

Many large-scale crypto operations employ thousands of servers to secure blocks, where cryptocurrency transaction data are stored, around the clock. Those operations consume an enormous amount of electricity.

Larger crypto operations can consume 10 or more megawatts of power, and estimates show that a single megawatt of electricity can power close to 650 homes.

Democratic lawmakers, including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, have been vocal about unanswered requests for data on crypto's electricity consumption. The Department of Energy determined it could collect that data by declaring an "emergency collection of data request."

"Not all cryptocurrencies are as energy-hungry, but Bitcoin mining in particular eats up a lot of electricity — and that could spell trouble for U.S. climate goals," said Justine Calma, a senior science reporter for The Verge who covered the recent legal battle. "Looking big-picture, it can also have local impacts, like potentially driving up electricity rates for residents and putting added pressure on power grids whenever there are demand peaks, say during a heatwave."

Calma pointed to estimates from 2022 by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, which estimated that crypto asset operations in the United States likely use between 0.9-1.7% of the total electricity use in the country. Those operations can take up higher local percentages depending on where it's being mined, including current mining hotspots in Texas and New York.

RELATED: When power is cheap, crypto moves in. The fallout in rural WA is complex

The Texas Blockchain Council, along with Riot Platforms, filed suit against the survey and argued it was weaponizing the survey process for political reasons, rather than implementing a survey for public safety reasons. After a moratorium on survey data collection was ordered by a federal judge, the Department of Energy reached a settlement with the plaintiffs and agreed to cancel and destroy any collected data.

The Department of Energy can still conduct a survey through a notice of proposed data collection, which gives the public 60 days to comment. It could also query utility companies for relevant electricity data.

Calma said that the recent value of Bitcoin — which soared to a record high of over $70,000 this week — will likely drive more energy use.

"The higher the prices, the more [miners] want to maybe increase their operations by additional equipment," Calma said. "They'll get more bang for their buck, so we could see greater energy use and greater environmental effects if they're ramping up their operations."

Listen to the full Soundside story by clicking "play" on the audio icon at the top of this story.