One of the things that I love doing other than Steeming and helping other Steemians to learn more about cryptocurrencies is chatting with them and getting to know them better. I am an introvert in real life and find it difficult to open up to other people around me. However, through the use of technology, I have discovered that I can be sociable, very sociable in fact that I spend most of my time in chat rooms interacting with people from all walks of life. This is a form of unwinding for me from the many hours of helping other minnows with their Steemit related activities and monitoring the crypto-verse for new information and possible investment opportunities. It is also a form of “relaxed” brain storming of ideas on what to share in Steemit.
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Earth will not be safe to live in soon
In one of this casual conversation where I was chatting with fellow Steemian 
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In fact it is our problem now. We can see the signals everywhere. Heat waves, Sea-levels rising, glaciers melting, droughts and more occurrences of super typhoons are some of it. These will result to uninhabitable places, limited food supply, decease and even possible extinction. The irony is there is no other entity to blame but ourselves. We have brought upon ourselves this situation as each and every one of us directly contributed to these conditions. Since we are the one that is ultimately to be blamed we should be able to something about it to reverse it or at least lessen its impact by lessening activities that contribute to this. One of which is our consumption of Energy.
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China consumes the most fossil fuel which incidentally where most of the Bitcoin mining farms are located.
Fossil fuel up until now is the primary source of energy of many nations. So long as there is oil that can be extracted from the ground and people in position of power protecting the interest of oil refinery companies it will be for a very long time. That is why even if we develop technologies that will enable us to harness renewable and sustainable energy it we will always encounter resistance from powerful and influential groups or people that protects the old business model that gives them massive profits. Our only recourse is to try to lower our energy consumption.
Bitcoin energy usage problem
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As I continue to ponder about this topic I realize that unwittingly, I have been advocating a movement that has contributed to the increase of Energy usage: Bitcoins. Don’t get me wrong I am still an advocate of Bitcoins and its uses and will continue to do so. I still believe the technologies and the institutions it seeks to replace spends much more resources. However the massive energy it requires for the whole Bitcoin network to run is cause of great concern.
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Bitcoin is poised to overtake Argentina in terms of energy usage by the end of 2018
To put this in perspective the energy required to run the whole Bitcoin network is more than the total power requirement of Ireland. This was predicted as early as 2014 in a study titled “Bitcoin Mining and its Energy Footprint” by students of Hamilton Institute National University of Ireland. A copy of which can be downloaded here. In fact the former The managing Director of International Monetary Fund, Christine Legarge, estimates that its power consumption will continue to grow that in 2018 its power requirements will surpass the total power consumption of Argentina.
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Note: Discussion about Bitcoin starts at 4:07 minutes
In times of climate change and when we look at how much coal is being used in some Chinese provinces to actually mine Bitcoin it’s a big concern — Lagarde.
So what is it in Bitcoin that uses so much energy?
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This has something to do with the consensus mechanism that Bitcoin uses. — Proof of work. Consensus mechanism is just a fancy word for a way on how its underlying technology the “Blockchain” (A public ledger) is maintained accurate and updated. In Proof of work, computers with massive computational power compete with each other to solve a mathematical problem.
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These computers are called miners. The first miner that solves the computational problem will be able to write the necessary updated and accurate information in the Blockchain. More importantly the first miner to solve this mathematical problem will be rewarded with newly minted Bitcoins at 12.5 BTC per block in around 10 minutes intervals plus the transaction fees Bitcoins users pay when they send their coin. The miner with the highest computational power does not necessarily mean that it will get rewarded each and every time as the solution for this is more of a guessing game. Miners with more computational power naturally has an edge to find that solution since it can guess more solutions at a given time.
To have an edge over other miners, mining companies always upgrade their equipment to add more computational power to their arsenal. This is also in response to the fact that overtime the difficulty of finding the solution for the mathematical problem also increases. Therefore it is an ending need for additional power thus energy consumption. Those who do not agree or understand what value Bitcoin and its accompanying technology brings to humanity will surely say that Bitcoin is just a waste of energy, Which I totally DISAGREE. In my honest opinion the intermediaries that it seeks to replace waste a lot more energy (more on this on another article soon).
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Miners are very important in the Bitcoin Network. They ensure the security and integrity of the whole system is intact. Therefore we cannot do away with them as they essentially keep the whole BItcoin network running. People who run these mining firms know this and had made improvements to address the networks insatiable need for computing. Many of the mining companies have looked for alternative sources of energy such as geothermal, solar and wind to run their power hungry facilities.
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Envion – Off-Grid Blockchain Mining seeks to leverage sustainable and renewable energy in mining bitcoins.
There are even companies that took advantage of the freezing temperatures of the geographic location of their mining farms and replace expensive cooling system that is required to cool off Mining machines that runs all year long nonstop.
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Miners are taking advantage of freezing temperatures to mine bitcoins more effectively and efficiently. Cryptocurrency mining generates of heat.
Some enterprising individuals take took advantage of this seeming weakness of the Bitcoin ecosystem and have made ingenious ways to make the heat generated by this computing power to something useful such as heating for households.
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Free heating with some profits using Bitcoin mining equipment.
With all that being said the problem of the insatiable power requirements of mining activities still persist and an immediate solution is nowhere in sight or is there?
Changing the Consensus Mechanism
It is unfair to put all blame to Bitcoin as there are other cryptocurrencies that uses the same consensus mechanism or protocol. Ethereum, the second ranking cryptocurrency in the world in terms of market capitalization also uses “proof-of-work” as its consensus mechanism. However, its developers have expressed interest in switching to “Proof-of-Stake” consensus mechanism. This mechanism or protocol does not require massive amounts of computational power as there is no mathematical problem to solve.
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I might have painted a picture that mining activities will go on forever for mining for newly minted Bitcoins. This is not true. One of the attribute that I have not mentioned above is the fact that Bitcon’s supply is finite— 21 million to be exact. No more no less. To date there is about 16.7 millions bitcoins currently available thus already mined. Which means that there is about 4.3 million new Bitcoins to be mined. As I mentioned above block rewards is about 12.5 BTC every 10 minutes. There is also an event called “halving event” every 4 years where rewards will be cut in half (6.25). This is part of Bitcoin’s Monetary predictable, transparent Policy. Taking this into account all Bitcoins should be mined sometime in 2140. By then the amount of energy requirement to mine bitcoin would take same amount of a whole continent or even the whole world.
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2140 is still a long way to go and the irreparable damage to the environment due to is massive power requirement would be unmanageable. Bitcoin I believe was created to make a better world not break it. But in doing so are we willing to gamble the only habitable planet known to man? I don’t think so and I believe that developers and leadership of Bitcoin are hard at work to “invent” new ways on how to resolve this power requirement issue.
One practical solution is to change the Concensus Mechanism itself which is in my opinion is the main cause of this problem. As I mentioned above Ethereum’s developers and leadership is already considering in switching from Proof of work consensus mechanism to “Proof of stake” (Casper) which many believe will be the successor to Bitcoin’s Consensus mechanism.
Porgrammer explains PoW vs PoS
Of course such radical approach will be met with certain amount of resistance from crypto mining firms and its allied industries that have benefitted from the status quo. One valid point that the proponents who are against “Proof of stake” consensus mechanism is its inherent problem with security. Let me explain why.
Basically consensus mechanisms (also called protocol or algorithm) ensures that the next block in the “blockchain” (The public dedentralized ledger) is the only existing version of the truth. In "proof of work" miners compete with other miners to validate transactions. This is done by solving very complex cryptographic problems. This process makes the network highly secure.
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“Proof of stake” however does things differently. There is no competitive nature in “Proof of stake.” In proof of stake all coins are already in existence, thus no mining will take place. Instead of investing in expensive and power hungry computer equipment validators just need to just invest in the coins of the system. Those who have higher stake or holdings of a certain coin will get a higher chance of being picked to create the next block “the new version of the truth” and these validators will be paid strictly in transaction fees.
The central problem with "Proof of Stake" protocol is the fact that a whale (a person or entity that holds a massive amount of coins) will have significant influence over the network which defeats the whole purpose of decentralization and makes the network less secure from people with self serving agenda.
There are three essential attributes that a blockchain or public ledger should possess: Secure, Efficient and functional. “Proof of work” is arguably the most secure but in terms of efficiency (both in terms of performance and cost) is less to be desired. “Proof of stake” on the other hand is highly efficient since there is no complicated computation race but its security is of great concern. Both however can be said functional as it has been implemented in other cryptocurrencies.
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There is however a proposed middle ground which is called “Proof of activity” which is the a hybrid of “Proof of work” and “Proof of stake.” I will not delve in this consensus protocol as it also possesses the same weakness of both consensus mechanisms: Too much energy requirement and security problems.
It seems that there is no simple solution to Bitcoin’s consensus problem. So long as the miners are there to protect their self interest Bitcoin’s consensus mechanism will continue use up massive amounts of energy and so long as “proof of stake” does not have a deterrent for its security issues It will never be a viable option.
“Delegated Proof of stake” and STEEM
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There is however a new type of consensus mechanism that has proven to be effective, efficient and secure. This consensus mechanism is called Delegated proof of stake (DPoS hereafter). Dpos can be considered an improvement of Proof of Stake consensus mechanism by making it more secure by
leveraging the power of stakeholder approval voting to resolve consensus issues in a fare and democratic way. All network parameters, from fee schedules to block intervals and transaction sizes, can be tuned via elected delegates. Deterministic selection of block producers allows transactions to be confirmed in an average of just 1 second… the consensus protocol is designed to protect all participants against all unwanted regulatory interference.
Source: https://bitshares.org/technology/delegated-proof-of-stake-consensus/
In simple words in DPoS stakeholders can vote delegates to run the system. The top delegates who are called “witnesses” are paid for the confirmation of transactions and creation of blocks. The main difference between of Delegated Proof of Stake to Proof of Stake is that people who has more coin holdings does not have direct control of how things run in the Blockchain. That being said there is still certain amount of influence of whales have in the Delegated proof of stake as ranking of delegates is relative to the amount of coin holdings of the voter that has voted for them. There is one important aspect that I have not discussed yet in DPoS, elected delegates are not permanent as stakeholders can easily remove them from being a delegate by simply removing their vote.
The blockchain of STEEM is a great example of a successful implementation of this protocol. It has a thriving system that uses the Delegated Proof of Stake protocol. In Steem we call all elected delegates witnesses and are ranked based on the Stake-weighted community approval. To give you a clearer definition of what Steem witnesses are please read the definition below. I have taken this definition from FAQ section of the Steemit web portal.
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What are Steem witnesses?
The Steem blockchain requires a set of people to create blocks and uses a consensus mechanism called delegated proof of stake, or DPOS. The community elects 'witnesses' to act as the network's block producers and governance body. There are 20 full-time witnesses, producing a block every 63-second round. A 21st position is shared by the backup witnesses, who are scheduled proportionally to the amount of stake-weighted community approval they have. Witnesses are compensated with Steem Power for each block they create.
If you want to learn more about the Steem witnesses you may read 
By using this ingenious consensus algorithm STEEM it has outperformed most coins and tokens in the whole crypto-verse in terms of transactions speed, transaction throughout, transaction cost. Cost not only in transaction fees but also the energy cost of running the whole system securely, efficiently and effectively. I have written a lengthy discussion about STEEM recently and I recommend you to check it. You can find the link below:
https://steemit.com/steemit/@ankarlie/steem-has-so-much-explosive-potential-value-wise
Possibiliy of Bitcoin to using Delegated Proof of Stake?
Bitcoin started a movement towards decentralization but in reality it too had become too centralized. Majority of control now rest to a few big mining companies that keeps the Bitcoin network running. The possibility of making changes in its consensus protocol without the blessing of these mining firms is next to impossible as it will run contrary to their self interest.
Conclusion
I have started my cryptocurrency journey with Bitcoin and have discovered that many of its ideals resonated with mine. The ideas of decentralization, emancipation of money and more efficient ways of doing transaction across many applications (not only in monetary applications) have excited my imagination. However like many things in life things change. As I learned and experienced doing Bitcoin investments and transactions I have discovered many of its shortcomings. Delayed transactions, cost of moving money more than the cost of money being moved, bitcoin being used for nefarious purposes and it is becoming too centralized to a few powerful and wealthy mining firms and stakeholders. Running contrary to what it was initially designed to do: Disrupt centralized structures.
With all that being said, the cryptocurrency movement is still moving strong and its supporters increasing by the day. Satoshi Nakamoto brought us this amazing piece of technology blockchain— ”a transparent and immutable public ledger “ and its consensus protocol “Proof of work” that enable us to be more efficient and effective but it this does not mean that we should stop searching for a more efficient, less centralized and faster technology like STEEM and its protocol “Delegated Proof of work.”
Thank you for the time reading my articles I do hope that you enjoy what I have shared with your today. Good bye for now and happy Steeming!
