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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Erum Salam

Bitcoin is terrible for the environment – can it ever go green?

A representation of bitcoin is seen in an illustration picture taken on June 23, 2017. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo
The amount of carbon dioxide produced by bitcoin mining each year may be comparable to the amount emitted by Greece in 2019. Photograph: Benoît Tessier/Reuters

On the corner of New York’s Park Avenue and 52nd Street, curious onlookers recently stopped in front of a giant green skull sitting in the bed of a truck parked outside the office of Fidelity Investments, the global financial management company.

The “Skull of Satoshi”, named after the pseudonymous bitcoin developer Satoshi Nakamoto, is composed almost entirely of computer circuit boards and fitted with tall smokestacks usually found atop coal power plants.

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