How bitcoin makes burning fossil fuels more profitable than ever

Abstract

Bitcoin mining is a lucrative but energy-intensive activity. To keep costs low, miners are finding new ways to make their own electricity, often derived from fossil fuels. Mining companies are buying struggling coal, coal waste, and gas power plants and using the electricity they generate for their mining operations. Existing utility companies and power plants are pivoting to mining to make up for declining demand. Oil and gas companies are also buying mobile generators and installing them at well sites, mining right there at the oil or gas well, or selling the gas to third-party miners. The fossil fuel-to-bitcoin pipeline is getting shorter and shorter, and associated greenhouse gas emissions are climbing.