The mining of cryptocurrencies is putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on the electrical infrastructure of Douglas county in the US state of Washington, according to CNBC.
Crypto miners are rushing to Washington to benefit from the cheaper costs of the electrical energy in the state. The increasing number of crypto miners is creating the need for larger infrastructure that would be able to keep up with the increased demand for electricity. The price per kilowatt of electrical energy is around four cents in the state of Washington. As a comparison, the average price of one kilowatt of electricity in the United States is seven cents.
Ron Cridlebaugh, the Economic Development Manager of Douglas county, said the problem should be solved by adding an additional 100 megawatts of power to the county’s electrical infrastructure. He said in an interview for CNBC: “Our infrastructure is actually being tested, we are overloaded. We need some time to catch up, because the demand was fast.”
A study from last December conducted by Crescent Electric (CESCO), an electric supply company from the United States, showed that Louisiana was the best country for the mining of cryptocurrency, offering the cheapest price of electrical energy, with the cost of 9.87 cents per watt. This means the cost of mining one bitcoin is around 3,224 dollars. According to the same study, Washington is the third cheapest state for the mining of cryptocurrencies in the United States, with the cost of mining one bitcoin of 3,309 dollars.
The mining of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies caused a large debate about the environmental effects and the critics are complaining about the costs and possible effects of such an endeavor that, which requires a lot of energy. On the other hand, many people claim the mining of cryptocurrencies is just the lesser evil, saying the production of fiat money spends more energy than the mining of cryptocurrencies.
