Bitcoin Mining Hits 52% Clean Energy Usage as Sector Transforms
Last Updated on 15 October 2025
Image by Jaydeep Joshi from Pixabay
More than half of Bitcoin mining now runs on sustainable energy. Cambridge University confirmed this shift in 2025, and the numbers show how much the industry has changed since 2022. Back then, only 37.6% of operations used clean power. Today, that figure stands at 52.4%.
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance broke down the energy sources. Nuclear provides 9.8% of the power, and renewables like hydropower and wind supply 42.6%. Natural gas has become the primary energy source, accounting for 38.2%, up from 25% three years ago. Coal dropped hard from 36.6% to just 8.9%.
Everyday Users Push Adoption Forward
Bitcoin stopped being just for traders and investors, so regular people started using it for actual purchases and transactions.
For example, online gaming platforms made the switch because players wanted their money fast. Traditional banks take days to process withdrawals, but crypto casinos handle payments in under ten minutes (source: https://99bitcoins.com/best-bitcoin-casino/).
When everyday consumers adopted Bitcoin for real transactions, miners had to address the pollution problem or watch their industry lose credibility.
Geography Decides Who Survives
Cheap, clean energy determines success in modern mining. El Salvador uses heat from volcanoes to power operations and has mined 474 Bitcoins from geothermal plants. Paraguay built its mining industry around huge hydroelectric dams. Quebec changed its rules to give priority grid access to miners who get at least 75% of their power from renewables.
Texas became a mining hub after China kicked the industry out in 2021. The state has wind farms everywhere, and miners buy cheap power when nobody else needs it at night. When summer heat waves strain the grid, about half of Texas mining operations voluntarily shut down. This keeps the lights on for residents and keeps regulators from cracking down.
Oman and the UAE built their strategies around natural gas that other industries throw away. Oman wants to control a big piece of the global mining market before the year ends. They care more about cheap fuel than good press.
Better Machines Use Less Power
New equipment changed the game as much as clean energy did. Bitmain released the Antminer S21, which uses only 46 joules per terahash. That’s the best efficiency ever recorded. Immersion cooling grew 39% in 2025. Miners in hot places can now skip the expensive air conditioning.
Liquid cooling cuts energy waste by 22% compared to old air systems. Some companies installed AI software that tracks electricity prices and shifts operations around to save money and reduce pollution. Swedish miners built cooling systems underwater that use cold fjord water.
This cut their cooling energy by 38%.
Norway tested AI that splits power between mining and public services. Each innovation helps when the industry uses as much electricity as some countries.
Rules Accelerated the Changes
Governments pushed miners to go green faster than market forces would have. The EU requires sustainability reports from any operation over 25 megawatts under its MiCA rules. New York kept its ban on fossil fuel mining permits and won’t lift it until late 2025.
Kazakhstan set up tiered pricing that charges miners $0.12 per kilowatt-hour if they use dirty power. Iran started giving out licenses again, but only to operations that can prove they get 85% of their energy from renewable sources in 2025. Miners who couldn’t adapt had to move or close down.
What Comes Next
Bitcoin mining uses 138 terawatt-hours per year. That’s about 0.5% of all electricity consumed globally. The number is still big even though the fuel mix got cleaner. The argument changed from whether mining hurts the environment to which companies can mine cleanly and still turn a profit under tighter rules.
Getting to 52% renewables shows progress, but plenty of work remains. Critics say green mining takes renewable energy away from homes and hospitals that need it more. Supporters argue that mining soaks up extra wind and solar power that grids can’t store or use otherwise.
Both sides make fair points. What matters is that the industry changed much faster than anyone expected three years ago. Whether miners can stay profitable as rules get stricter and energy prices bounce around will determine what happens next.