Environment China

In today’s episode, we check the millennial box and take a look at blockchain -- and its energy implications. Alarming headlines came out earlier this year charting the rising energy consumption of Bitcoin and tracing the majority of its mining operations back to China. We are joined by Sophie Lu, head of China Research at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, who has written a report on the topic. She describes why Bitcoin mining consumes so much electricity, why it is taking place in China, and what future power consumption might be as demand for Bitcoin rises but its manufacture also becomes more efficient. Sophie also discusses the broader potential environmental benefits of the blockchain technology behind Bitcoin – particularly its use in making supply chains more transparent and facilitating distributed energy grids.