This video from Grist explains bitcoin, blockchains, and the energy use involved in cryptocurrency transactions.
Students will learn how decentralized transactions work, how bitcoins get mined, the electricity used in these processes, possible solutions, and the counterarguments bitcoin supporters might have.
Teaching Tips
Positives
It uses visuals and simple vocabulary to explain what might otherwise be a confusing subject matter.
It demonstrates a conversation for and against bitcoin's energy consumption using different perspectives and counterarguments.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should have a basic understanding of supply and demand.
Students should understand why diverging from fossil fuel energy consumption is more sustainable.
There is a pop-up ad during the video.
Differentiation
Economics classes can analyze the conversation about bitcoin possibly accelerating the transition to more renewable energy sources, and then determine the validity of that perspective.
Students can research and compare bitcoin's electricity use to other major consumers or sectors.
The description links to their sources for further context.
Cryptocurrency generation requires an extreme amount of electricity. While some estimates claim that nearly 40% of that energy comes from renewable sources, the majority is still generated with fossil fuels. This resource offers an explanation and their sources for easy access. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Social Studies
Personal Finance & Economics
Personal Finance (F1): Students understand the principles and processes of personal finance by explaining how scarcity influences choices and relates to the market economy.
Global Connections (F2): Students understand economic aspects of unity and diversity in Maine, the United States, and the world, including Maine Native American communities, by analyzing how resource distribution effects wealth, poverty, and other economic factors.
