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Comment by bromuro | Hacker News Reader

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bromuro·

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56012952

“Bitcoin consumes 'more electricity than Argentina'”

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"Christmas lights consume more electricity than Argentina."

"Wash dryers consume more electricity than Argentina."

"Steel foundries consume more electricity than Argentina."

What is the point? Comparing global electricity usage of a single sector and comparing it to the usage of a whole country is meaningless.

Those things produce joy, dry clothes, and steel. Crypto produces... scams? We're facing climate collapse and need to choose what we burn electricity on very very wisely.

There is some good efficiency to be gained on clothes dryers.

US clothes dryers account for 60 billion kWh / year and by and large rely on direct heating elements. Switching to a heat pump design could apparently cut that in half: https://www.energystar.gov/ia/partners/pt_awards/SEDI_Fact_S...

It's the old saying about no silver bullets. There's a lot of small but meaningful low hanging fruit we could take advantage of that begins to add up in a big way.

Honestly, I'd be in favor of banning Christmas lights.

The Christmas lights number is a little deceptive because it is comparing instantaneous draw and not yearly consumption. When all (US) Christmas lights are on, it might very well be equal to the draw of Bitcoin or Argentina; on a yearly basis, it's about 2-5%, depending on what estimate you are using. Christmas lights just aren't on for more than a week or two each year, by and large, and usually only for a few hours of each of those days.

On a yearly basis, (US) Christmas lights use more electricity than Montenegro or El Salvador.

It doesn't say anything about the worthiness of Christmas lights, but it makes them a much smaller gain if you eliminated them.

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