Bitcoin's Energy Consumption in Summer: Rise or Fall?

As energy-intensive as Bitcoin mining is, a question still remains: Is there a seasonal variation in the cryptocurrency's energy consumption? Even if consumption is rising on the whole, does something different happen during the summer months?

Well, data hasn't been collected on Bitcoin's electricity consumption for long enough to provide a truly authoritative answer to this question, yet what data there is suggests that the summer brings a slight, but noticeable weakening to the rise in BTC's energy consumption.

The most widely cited data has come from the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.

Despite the overall impression that there has been one continuous increase in consumption, some subtle variations are observable in the data that de Vries has collected as part of the Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.

As with the year before, 2018's movements underline two things: a) that the growth in energy consumption slows down to an appreciable degree in the summer months, and that b) this slowdown can't be correlated with price movements, particularly with regard to 2017's figures.

Summer = higher electricity pricesThe fact that BTC's price doesn't fully account for its energy consumption raises a conundrum.

The United States Energy Information Administration - a branch of the U.S. Department of Energy - found in a 2013 review that energy consumption in the U.S. peaks in the summer for residential, commercial and industrial customers, with the variation ranging from 18 billion KW/h to 67 billion KW/h. Similarly, in France and Germany, demand for energy during hot weather in June 2017 caused consumption to rise by 2GW and 4GW respectively.

RenewablesWhile what is above demonstrates that BTC energy consumption is lightly seasonal - in that the increase in capacity slips a little during the summer - there are two caveats worth addressing.

In the process, they'll dilute the vague seasonality currently visible in energy consumption charts, enabling consumption to rise consistently for as long as Bitcoin's price remains high and it retains its onerous proof-of-work algorithm.

Until Bitcoin moves almost completely to renewables, its energy consumption will continue to exhibit some slight seasonality, easing its foot off the gas during the summer months just as the rest of world is doing the opposite.