Unless you are running completely detached from the public grid, consuming renewable energy for crypto mining absolutely indirectly produces CO2. You are buying renewable energy that could otherwise be sold to another customer/jurisdiction where it would displace fossil fuel usage.
This isn't an academic exercise, this is an issue that renewables operators are dealing with right now. Hydro-Quebec is the state-owned corporation which handles all generation, transmission, and distribution in the province of Quebec. As the name implies, the vast majority of Quebec's generating capacity comes from large hydroelectric facilities located in the north. The company sells hydropower to the northeastern United States during times of day when demand is high. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement: the profits from the sale of hydropower in peak periods allows Hydro-Quebec to subsidize its own ratepayers who enjoy the lowest electricity rates in North America, and the Northeast US in turn doesn't have to build as many peaking power plants which are typically gas-fired facilities that produce CO2.
However, the low cost of electricity in Quebec has made it extremely popular with crypto miners, to the point where Hydro-Quebec has been forced to place miners into a 300 MW allocation block [1]. Miners who didn't manage to get into the allocation block are charged a rate that is more than double the normal rate in order to try and disincentivize their activities.
If the crypto miners weren't in Quebec, this excess energy would be sold to the northeastern US where it would displace the capacity of some CO2-generating peaker plants. But because it's being diverted to crypto mining, the energy doesn't get used for that.
Well maybe we should ban gold mining instead of bitcoin mining. It uses more energy and anyone who can understand the source code understands that Bitcoin does gold’s job, only 10x better.
1. Gold is used for other things than just investment, including jewellery and industrial uses (principally electronics). Can you plate a connector with Bitcoin?
2. I'm willing to bet that the economic multiplier for money spent on a gold mine is far higher than a crypto farm. Even looking at job creation alone, gold wins.
3. The literature [1] disagrees with your assertion that gold mining uses more energy than bitcoin generation.
This isn't an academic exercise, this is an issue that renewables operators are dealing with right now. Hydro-Quebec is the state-owned corporation which handles all generation, transmission, and distribution in the province of Quebec. As the name implies, the vast majority of Quebec's generating capacity comes from large hydroelectric facilities located in the north. The company sells hydropower to the northeastern United States during times of day when demand is high. This is a mutually beneficial arrangement: the profits from the sale of hydropower in peak periods allows Hydro-Quebec to subsidize its own ratepayers who enjoy the lowest electricity rates in North America, and the Northeast US in turn doesn't have to build as many peaking power plants which are typically gas-fired facilities that produce CO2.
However, the low cost of electricity in Quebec has made it extremely popular with crypto miners, to the point where Hydro-Quebec has been forced to place miners into a 300 MW allocation block [1]. Miners who didn't manage to get into the allocation block are charged a rate that is more than double the normal rate in order to try and disincentivize their activities.
If the crypto miners weren't in Quebec, this excess energy would be sold to the northeastern US where it would displace the capacity of some CO2-generating peaker plants. But because it's being diverted to crypto mining, the energy doesn't get used for that.
[1] https://www.hydroquebec.com/blockchain/