Two things that seem futuristic: Bitcoin and energy efficiency. Two things that are diametrically opposed: Bitcoin and energy efficiency. Mining Bitcoin might not sound like a resource-intensive process, but in fact it requires almost unbelievably vast amounts of energy. In order to track the shocking energy footprint of Bitcoin mining, the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Alternative Finance created an online tool that measures this consumption to its best ability and compares it to the energy consumption of other entities to put the shocking quantities into perspective. Thanks to the climbing price of Bitcoin, this week the cryptocurrency’s energy consumption topped that of Pakistan –a nation of more than 200 million people. This spike in Bitcoin mining is thanks to an explosion in Bitcoin prices. The cryptocurrency’s value has jumped 276% this year alone, trading around $27,000 on Tuesday with a total market value near $500 billion. As MarketWatch […]