Bitcoin’s growing water footprint
Alex de Vries
Abstract
Amid growing concerns over the impacts of climate change on worldwide water security, Bitcoin’s water footprint has rapidly escalated in recent years. The water footprint of Bitcoin in 2021 significantly increased by 166% compared with 2020, from 591.2 to 1,573.7 GL. The water footprint per transaction processed on the Bitcoin blockchain for those years amounted to 5,231 and 16,279 L, respectively. As of 2023, Bitcoin’s annual water footprint may equal 2,237 GL. To address this increasing water footprint, miners could apply immersion cooling and consider using power sources that do not require freshwater. A change in the Bitcoin software could also significantly reduce the network’s water footprint.
Topics & Concepts
FootprintWater useVirtual waterEcological footprintEnvironmental scienceDatabase transactionClimate changeMemory footprintNatural resource economicsWater resource managementWater scarcityComputer scienceGeographySustainabilityEconomicsGeologyAgricultureDatabaseEcologyOceanographyOperating systemBiologyArchaeologyBlockchain Technology Applications and SecurityData Stream Mining Techniques