The Energy Information Administration is set to collect data on the power usage of cryptocurrency miners, and the industry is fighting back.
In early July, the government agency held a listening session in advance of its second bid to get a grasp of the issue, Inside Climate News reported.
The industry is asking why AI and cloud computing operations are not being included in the survey. AI interfacing, for example, is 10 times as energy-intensive as traditional internet searches.
Cryptocurrency miners have already warded off the first attempt to gather this information. In January, the EIA declared its intention to collect the data because of an "imminent threat to energy grid reliability," as Reuters reported. A judge blocked the authorization after a Bitcoin company and the Texas Blockchain Council argued it violated a federal statute to limit paperwork requests by the government and asked for proprietary information.
"Rather than an emergency authorization, the new survey will be posted online in the Federal Register, go through a standard 60-day public comment period and be revised before needing final approval from the federal Office of Management and Budget," ICN reported.
Soon, the EIA will open a public comment period before collecting data, finalizing the survey, and "establishing regular requirements that cryptominers report their energy use data," as Earthjustice put it.
"These companies work behind closed doors, in secret to set up shop in unsuspecting communities," Jackie Sawicky of the Texas Coalition Against Cryptomining told the outlet. "They know that if they're honest about their operations, they wouldn't be let in the door by the general public."
More than a third of the world's cryptomining happens in the United States, per Earthjustice, and ICN reported that cryptomining consumes 0.6-2.3% of the country's electricity annually, but no one knows what the actual figure is.
The practice devours energy because supercomputers run constantly in the name of breaking codes, which produce, for example, Bitcoins. In Texas, home to the highest concentration of mines, cryptominers' energy usage could double before 2030, ICN reported. The industry holds the largest share of superusers that may draw power from the state's shaky grid over the next few years.
In a strange twist, though, these companies can help stabilize the market by shutting down — and earn huge windfalls for doing so.
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