Yeah, but this exposes the issue with "bitcoin takes X percent of the energy production, therefore it's evil".
If you want you can build a generator near those wells. It's just cheaper to get the energy from somewhere else, because energy is fungible. A watt is not good or evil, it's the same as any other watt. Which means crypto energy consumption can be offset just like anything else, and is exactly as evil as any other convenience - driers, for instance, or flood lights, or inefficient heating, or anything else.
Focusing on crypto in particular says more about the author than anything else.
no it's not. A watt that's in the middle of south dakota, with no power lines in sight, is worth much less than a watt in southern california and is connected to the power grid.
If you want you can build a generator near those wells. It's just cheaper to get the energy from somewhere else, because energy is fungible. A watt is not good or evil, it's the same as any other watt. Which means crypto energy consumption can be offset just like anything else, and is exactly as evil as any other convenience - driers, for instance, or flood lights, or inefficient heating, or anything else.
Focusing on crypto in particular says more about the author than anything else.