Simptag-In-Retail-Stores - ITZA Corporation

Bitcoin's Environmental Impact

The real-world cost of "digital gold"

Bitcoin's proof-of-work turns electricity into security-and emissions. When we invest, trade, or build on it, we amplify a signal that draws more power from real grids in real towns.

≈ 11,000,000 cars/year · ≈ 132,000 t CO2/day

100+ TWh estimated annual electricity use

≈ 11M gasoline cars' yearly emissions - equivalent

≈ 132k/day CO2 tons

~1% share of global electricity (order-of-magnitude)

What that energy use really means

Proof-of-work rewards raw computation. When price climbs, rigs multiply-and the marginal power that meets new demand isn't always clean. The result is heavier grids, higher local prices, and emissions you can neither see nor opt out of.

Large mining sites can spike local electricity costs and strain infrastructure.
ASIC upgrades create a growing stream of e-waste.
Speculative cycles pull in more miners-amplifying demand at the worst moments.

Power plant with cooling towers under a pale sky

Myths we like to tell ourselves

"It's all renewable now."
Some miners use renewables, which is good. But mining follows cheap power-not purity. When fossil energy is cheaper or more available, hardware moves and the average mix shifts.

"Transactions don't add emissions-I'm just holding."
Security budgets scale with price and attention. Investing, speculating, and advocacy strengthen mining incentives, indirectly increasing energy demand even if you never send a transaction.

"Offsets make it fine."
Quality offsets help, but they don't fix local air pollution or grid stress-and not all credits are equal. The cleanest impact is demand avoided in the first place.