Researchers uncover unlikely factor easing pressure on national power grid: 'A lot of [people] were skeptical'

Experts involved with the power-hungry cryptocurrency sector are trumpeting a Duke University study that suggested energy-gobbling crypto mining can actually help bring balance to a challenged grid. 

The answer, per the experts, is better planning by taking advantage of flexible loads. This means powering down during peak demand or using other (preferably renewable) energy sources until the grid is stable. 

It's news bitcoin investor and analyst Daniel Batten said in an X post that he has waited 34 months to hear. 

"I said that Bitcoin mining helps avoid expensive grid upgrades and decarbonize grids, a lot of non-Bitcoiners were skeptical. Now, a Duke University report confirms all this," he posted. 

Alongside crypto, another issue is the loads of power consumed by data centers that provide the brains for artificial intelligence and other services. The centers are estimated by the Department of Energy to consume 12% of U.S. electricity by 2028, needing constant power. 

Crypto mining, commonly for Bitcoin, uses up to an estimated 2.3%, per other government data. The alternative currency is "mined" when advanced computers solve puzzles to form blocks, which are linked to form chains to unlock coins as part of a verification process, all per Fidelity. There are a few variations for how the process works, some more energy-intensive than others, and numerous types of cryptocurrency platforms and coins as a result.

High energy need is a common theme among all of the powerful computing across both industries, but crypto's use is more flexible. The Duke analysis focused on 22 of the country's largest balancing authorities. They manage energy supply regionally, according to the U.S. Energy Department.

"Flexibility, in this context, refers to the ability of end-use customers to temporarily reduce their electricity consumption from the grid during periods of system stress by using on-site generators, shifting workload to other facilities, or reducing operations. When system planners can reliably anticipate the availability of this load flexibility, the immediate pressure to expand generation capacity and transmission infrastructure can potentially be alleviated, mitigating or deferring costly expenditures," the experts wrote in the study. 

Mara Holdings, a digital assets and energy firm from Florida with a strong presence in Texas as well, said — citing Duke's work —  that better planning can help the grid to accommodate "new load" that's equal to 10% of the nation's peak demand without adding infrastructure. 

"Bitcoin mining fits this model well, providing utilities with a scalable, controllable load that can improve grid efficiency and stability," Mara's team wrote. 

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It's part of crypto's complicated relationship with the grid, often highlighted for causing price spikes for residential customers — particularly in its earlier days, before some of the more recent adaptations. 

Bitcoin still uses a lot of energy, though, creating challenges that efforts like these are trying to solve. Energy Star reported that one transaction uses more energy than is needed by six houses in a day. 

The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, added that data centers and coin mining produce nearly a full percent of Earth's heat-trapping air pollution, since many crypto miners are still running on grid power or self-owned natural gas facilities, and much of the world's grids are still using high rates of dirty fuels.

The planet-warming gases from those aging processes are linked by NASA to increased risks for infrastructure-threatening severe weather, not to mention risks for accidents such as oil spills. The storms, combined with a strained electricity system, are making blackouts more common. 

Efforts are underway in Paraguay to use cleaner hydro to power the computing. Meta is among companies stateside investing in solar power to offset data center consumption, though the Facebook owner company has also been criticized for plans to build natural gas power generation. Meta and many other companies running data centers, such as Google, OpenAI, and Amazon, have been exploring nuclear power solutions as well — not as good as renewable, but generally better and cleaner on balance than fossil fuels, albeit with safety risks. 

Either way, with AI and crypto forecast to grow, even as news like the Duke study can offer signs of hope, much change is still needed to counter the tech industry's energy use and resulting pollution, which is a "cause for concern," per the IMF. 

For now, anyone can contribute to saving energy even just in small ways, such as unplugging unused devices and chargers and not cranking the heat or AC as hard, but even better would be installing rooftop solar panels. In all cases, moves that reduce air pollution will also cut your power bill.

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