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Bitcoin mines cash in on electricity — by devouring it, selling it, even turning it off — and they cause immense pollution. In many cases, the public pays a price.
The Bitdeer mine in Rockdale, Texas.Credit...Video by Jordan Vonderhaar
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By Gabriel J.X. Dance
Graphics by Tim Wallace and Zach Levitt
Gabriel J.X. Dance traveled to Texas and North Dakota, interviewed Bitcoin miners, energy experts, scientists and politicians and analyzed thousands of records detailing mining operations for this story. Send tips.
Texas was gasping for electricity. Winter Storm Uri had knocked out power plants across the state, leaving tens of thousands of homes in icy darkness. By the end of Feb. 14, 2021, nearly 40 people had died, some from the freezing cold.
Meanwhile, in the husk of a onetime aluminum smelting plant an hour outside of Austin, row upon row of computers were using enough electricity to power about 6,500 homes as they raced to earn Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
The computers were performing trillions of calculations per second, hunting for an elusive combination of numbers that Bitcoin’s algorithm would accept. About every 10 minutes, a computer somewhere guesses correctly and wins a small number of Bitcoins worth, in recent weeks, about $170,000. Anyone can try, but to make a business of it can require as much electricity as a small city.
In Texas, the computers kept running until just after midnight. Then the state’s power grid operator ordered them shut off, under an agreement that allowed it to do so if the system was about to fail. In return, it began paying the Bitcoin company, Bitdeer, an average of $175,000 an hour to keep the computers offline. Over the next four days, Bitdeer would make more than $18 million for not operating, from fees ultimately paid by Texans who had endured the storm.
The computers in these buildings in Kearney, Neb., use about as much electricity as the 73,000 homes around them.
Aerial view showing rows of buildings in a complex that is surrounded by tan bare dirt.
An operation in Dalton, Ga., is using nearly as much power as the surrounding 97,000 households.
Aerial view showing rows of buildings in a lot surrounded by large industrial structures and wooded areas.
And Riot Platforms’ mine in Rockdale, Texas, uses about the same amount of electricity as the nearest 300,000 homes, making it the most power-intensive Bitcoin mining operation in America.
Aerial view showing rows of industrial-scale buildings in a cleared lot surrounded by a body of water and extensive wooded areas in the distance.
Riot’s operation is less than a mile away from the Bitdeer mine. Combined, they use more power than all of the households within a 40-mile radius.
Household density →
Map shows dots representing the households surrounding Rockdale, Texas, that use an equivalent amount of energy as the Riot Platforms and Bitdeer mines. The households that use an equivalent amount of energy stretch from Austin to College Station.
Each of the 34 operations The Times identified uses at least 30,000 times as much power as the average U.S. home.
Map shows the locations of major Bitcoin mines in the United States. States with the most mines include Texas, Georgia, New York, Pennsylvania and North Dakota.
Altogether, they consume more than 3,900 megawatts of electricity.
Circles sized according to power usage
Map shows bitcoin mines sized according to power usage. The Riot Platforms mine in Rockdale, Texas, uses 450 megawatts per hour.
That is nearly the same amount of electricity as the three million households that surround them.
Household density →
Map shows three million dots surrounding each of the largest Bitcoin mines in the United States, representing households that use an equivalent amount of energy. The Merkle Standard mine in Usk, Wash., uses about the same amount of electricity as the 75,000 households surrounding it.
To offset the emissions created each year from the power use of the Bitdeer mine in Rockdale, Texas, nearly 12 million trees would have to be planted and grown for a decade.
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Vexcel Imaging
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Vexcel Imaging
Ninety-two percent of the power demand of the Genesis Digital Assets mine in Pyote, Texas, is met by fossil fuel plants, causing 546,000 tons of carbon pollution each year.
Aerial view showing ten large buildings next to rows of smaller structures surrounded by dirt and sparse plants.
All 34 Bitcoin Mines and the Emissions They Cause
The nonprofit tech company WattTime used data provided by The Times to calculate how much of the additional electric generation the operations required was met by fossil fuel plants, and the carbon emissions that resulted.
| Bitcoin mine | Power | Fossil fuel | Emissions CO2/year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riot Platforms Rockdale, Texas | 450 MW | 96% | 1,918,000 tons |
| Atlas Power Williston, N.D. | 240 MW | 79% | 1,043,000 tons |
| Cipher Mining Odessa, Texas | 207 MW | 92% | 837,000 tons |
| US Bitcoin Upton County, Texas | 200 MW | 92% | 809,000 tons |
| Rhodium Enterprises Temple, Texas | 185 MW | 90% | 739,000 tons |
| Bitdeer Rockdale, Texas | 170 MW | 96% | 725,000 tons |
| Coinmint Massena, N.Y. | 150 MW | 72% | 457,000 tons |
| Core Scientific Calvert City, Ky. | 150 MW | 91% | 783,000 tons |
| Viking Data Centers Akron, Ohio | 150 MW | 99% | 705,000 tons |
| Core Scientific Dalton, Ga. | 142 MW | 78% | 627,000 tons |
Source: WattTime analysis, New York Times research Power levels are as of March 9 and based on information from each company or its most recent prior public statement. Fossil fuel percentages do not include energy imported from other states, the type of which is unknown; that results in low numbers for the Merkle Standard mine in Usk, Wash., and the Atlas Power mine in Butte, Mont.
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Vexcel Imaging
Vexcel Imaging
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Ninety-nine percent of the power demand of the Stronghold Digital Mining operation in Nesquehoning, Pa., is met by fossil fuel plants, causing 192,000 tons of carbon pollution each year.
Aerial view showing rows of buildings within three cleared areas surrounded by green grass and trees.
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Nearmap
Nearmap
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Ninety-two percent of the power demand of the Core Scientific mine in Denton, Texas, is met by fossil fuel plants, causing 501,000 tons of carbon pollution each year.
Aerial view showing a building complex with rows of large structures surrounded by brown ground and green plants.
The 10 Texas mines identified by The Times use more than 1,800 megawatts of energy combined, forcing more expensive power generators to run.
Circles sized according to energy usage
Map shows Bitcoin mines in Texas. About half of the mines are in West Texas near Midland.
That has increased power bills in the state by $1.8 billion a year, according to the Wood Mackenzie simulation.
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Increase in total electricity costs by region
Map shows the increase in total power bill costs by region due to Bitcoin mines’ electricity demand. In the North Central region, total power bill costs increased by 592 million dollars.
In West Texas, where several Bitcoin mines have settled, bills have increased by nearly 9 percent.
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Percentage increase by region
Map shows the percentage increase in power bills by region, with the highest increase of nearly 9 percent in West Texas.
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Vexcel Imaging
Vexcel Imaging
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Ninety-two percent of the power demand of the Galaxy mine in Afton, Texas, is met by fossil fuel plants, causing 400,000 tons of carbon pollution each year.
Aerial view showing a large building with a white roof and rows of attached rectangular structures surrounded by dirt.
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