Report: Majority of blockchain energy studies ‘lack scientific rigor’

According to a different preprint conducted by researchers in the Open Universiteit, College of California Berkley, and Radboud College, most literature on blockchain energy use from both academic and everyday sources “lacks the scientific rigor expected from the mature scientific field.” The report examined 128 scientific and open-source studies associated with carbon emissions of blockchains for example Bitcoin.

Researchers then discovered that an impressive 34% of studies didn’t even possess an explicit research design. Meanwhile, 43% of studies didn’t share information, while 67% didn’t share source code. Finally, 79% of studies didn’t have discussions concerning the longevity of exterior data.

Several notable fallacies across studies were found by researchers within their analysis. To begin with, blockchain energy studies typically cite data and derive their conclusions in the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. However, the origin clearly claims that it just captures about 32% to 37% of computing power within the network. 

Several notable fallacies across studies were found by researchers within their analysis. To begin with, blockchain energy studies typically cite data and derive their conclusions in the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. However, the origin clearly claims that it just captures about 32% to 37% of computing power within the network. 

Next, the validity of discovered another means utilized in such studies is known as into question. Researchers discovered that a substantial part of studies had “no obvious” assumptions for price of electricity use within cryptocurrency mining. In addition, there’s considerable opacity within studies regarding selection of energy usage effectiveness.

Finally, researchers flagged the validity of blockchain carbon emission claims. In a number of studies, they discovered that the sooner investigators simply extrapolated carbon emissions data, without any empirical evidence, from 2014 and put on 2014, from 2019 to 2021, from 2015 to completely as much as 2020, and so forth.

The report known as for discussions in to the longevity of models assessing the ecological impacts of blockchains. The crypto community remains heavily divided with regards to assessing the carbon footprint of blockchains. Some, for example Miami mayor Francis Suarez, state that 90% of one’s from Bitcoin mining originates from dirty energy. Others declare that the network makes up about under .08% from the world’s co2 production. 

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