> Let's get some laws passed to require miners in your area to use only renewable energy
Even if every major country on earth requires PoW systems to use renewable electricity (which won't happen any time soon in the first place) and can't run on the regular mixed grid, then after switching to countries without such laws (until there are none left), the renewable energy will be bought up at the source and the coal and gas plants will continue to supply everyone else. Nothing changes.
We need to change everything else to renewable before this really starts to be effective. It would make a much bigger impact if some countries, where users want to use cryptocurrency, make it illegal to use proof-of-work-based goods or currencies (whatever it's classified as). Suddenly a coin with PoS or something else becomes much more popular and we might, perhaps, shift over to a digital coin that is not a climate disaster.
> Even if every major country on earth requires PoW systems to use renewable electricity (which won't happen any time soon in the first place) and can't run on the regular mixed grid, then after switching to countries without such laws (until there are none left), the renewable energy will be bought up at the source and the coal and gas plants will continue to supply everyone else. Nothing changes.
Never say never. Humanity has successfully banned itself from using CFCs in refrigerants, for example. I also agree that regulating pollution from PoW specifically isn't as high of a priority as, say, regulating pollution from coal-fired power plants or concrete production. But it's something that could, in theory, be regulated if we find the will to do so. And if we don't believe that we can regulate CO2 production, then we must also believe that humanity is doomed anyway, and thus PoW pollution ought to be beneath our concern.
> We need to change everything else to renewable before this really starts to be effective. It would make a much bigger impact if some countries, where users want to use cryptocurrency, make it illegal to use proof-of-work-based goods or currencies (whatever it's classified as). Suddenly a coin with PoS or something else becomes much more popular and we might, perhaps, shift over to a digital coin that is not a climate disaster.
Why stop there? Why not impose a global carbon tax on all goods and services known to produce pollution? Then it doesn't matter what the goods are or how the goods are procured; what matters is that CO2 concentration stays steady or goes down.
My original point was to channel focus on what matters -- energy-intensive industries are in need of pollution regulation. But as you point out here, this need isn't specific to PoW.
> But it's something that could, in theory, be regulated if we find the will to do so.
Oh definitely we can, I just don't expect it to be realistic. Similar to being a tax haven, it's profitable for some countries to not make something illegal such that the people will go there to do it and pay only a small tax (or, in this case, be allowed to do it at all). Other countries can put pressure etc., but it would take time we don't have. Hence my alternative idea of making it illegal to use and forcing people to use alternatives, rather than to require it to use a precious resource (renewable energy).
Then again, making proof of work illegal to use seems like it would be too easy for a non-trivial part of the population to start screaming that the tinfoil hats were right.
> Why not impose a global carbon tax on all goods and services known to produce pollution?
Full agree. I genuinely don't know why we're not already doing that. Well, I mean, corruption, fear of change.. lots of things, but nothing fundamental. Not as if not literally everyone realizes that we will need to start with this. And I understand that some industries are so dependent on it that your economy collapses if you, from one day to the next, impose a tax equal to the real environmental damage done. People wouldn't get around, steel would cost more than gold, we can't build wind turbines anymore because they're made out of unobtainium (aka steel), etc. But we all know we need to get there anyway, and with the capitalistic system we have, well, the super fucking easiest way is to just start with a low carbon tax that increases to "real environmental damage" in <target_year_for_climate_neutral>. Probably an exponential curve to give companies some time to build out and use alternatives, but we do need to get there, everyone knows it (yes, also the politicians, and the delusional ones aren't in enough power to use that as an excuse), but we're not doing it.
> My original point was to channel focus on what matters
I suppose I agree with that. I am just frustrated with people invested in Bitcoin, people that are otherwise rational, waylaying logical arguments because they subconsciously don't want it to be true. It's clear as day, why can't we just stop this madness...
In general you're right of course, universal carbon tax would seem like it solves most things in one go instead of trying to fight a lot of individual battles for bitcoin, coal plants, and other individual things that produce CO2 or take renewable energy away unnecessarily.
Even if every major country on earth requires PoW systems to use renewable electricity (which won't happen any time soon in the first place) and can't run on the regular mixed grid, then after switching to countries without such laws (until there are none left), the renewable energy will be bought up at the source and the coal and gas plants will continue to supply everyone else. Nothing changes.
We need to change everything else to renewable before this really starts to be effective. It would make a much bigger impact if some countries, where users want to use cryptocurrency, make it illegal to use proof-of-work-based goods or currencies (whatever it's classified as). Suddenly a coin with PoS or something else becomes much more popular and we might, perhaps, shift over to a digital coin that is not a climate disaster.