Elizabeth Warren and 6 different Democratic senators are urgent Texas’ power regulator on whether or not the crypto mining trade is placing further pressure on the state’s grid, and its influence on local weather change.
In a letter to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the senators be aware that “cryptomining companies are flooding into states like Texas,” and lift questions concerning the trade’s influence on the state’s grid, which is already in a precarious place throughout main storms and different durations of excessive demand. “The Texas grid is particularly vulnerable given that it is the only independent state grid in the country, and does not interconnect to other states – meaning it has no buffer if there is a shortfall in supply,” the letter notes.
The senators additionally take situation with the funds mining firms obtain from ERCOT at instances of excessive demand. “In simple terms, the Bitcoin miners make money from mining that produces major strains on the electric grid: and during peak demand when the profitability of continuing to mine decreases, they then collect subsidies in the form of demand response payments when they shut off their mining operations and do nothing,” the letter says. “These subsidies to cryptominers also feed back into the worsening climate crisis. The energy used to mine Bitcoin and Ethereum in 2021 resulted in almost 80 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.”
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The letter asks for particulars on the quantity of power consumption utilized by crypto mining firms during the last 5 years, as properly if residential electrical energy price hikes have coincided with crypto miners’ arrival within the state.