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Current bitcoin hashrate: 210 EH/s
210 (EH/s) * 1,000,000 (TH/EH) * 600 (s/Block) * 1/6.25 (BTC/Block) = 20,160,000,000 (TH/BTC) = 20,160 (EH/BTC)
21.5 J/TH mining efficiency, calculate kWH/TH
1 Joule for 1 second is 1 Watt 1 hour Is 3600 seconds 1000 Watts for 1 hour is 1 kWH
Therefore 1 kWH is 3,600,000 J, or 3,600,000 (J/kWH)
21.5 (J/TH) / 3,600,000 (J/kWH) = 0.000,005,972,222 (kWH/TH) = 5.792222 (kWH/EH)
Using their 0.127 $/kWH:
20160 (EH/BTC) * 5.792222 (kWH/EH) * 0.127 ($/kWH) =
$14,830 ($/BTC)
Joe and Nik's calculations work out!
They don't consider the time-value of the mining equipment which likely accounts for much of the difference in price between the electricity cost and bitcoin trade price.
In other words, the cost of manufacturing a product isn't based on the cost only of the raw materials, it also includes infrastructure, finance, labor, risk and capital equipment to make the product. So it's really not a fair measure to only look at only the cost of electricity required to mine bitcoin.
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Note: 210 (EH/s) * 5.792222 (kWH/EH) = 1216 kWH/s
1 kWH/s = 3,600,000 Watts = 3.6 MW
1216 (kWH/s) * 3.6 (MW) = 4,400 MW = 4.4 Gigawatts
"GREAT SCOTT!"
That happens to be the capacity of only four average nuclear reactors.
All of the bitcoin mining power in the world could easily be served by a single nuclear power plant like France's Cattenom
Do we really need to keep wringing our hands over the "inefficiency" of POW?
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Its 5.9722 (kWH/EH), not 5.7922 so...
$15,291/BTC for electricity
4.5 GigaWatts worldwide power usage
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