Bitcoin mining electricity up 38% as hydropower replaces gas
New preliminary research cited by EnergyMag says Bitcoin mining electricity demand rose 38% from 138 TWh (June 2024) to about 190 TWh (December 2025). The key shift is energy sourcing: hydropower has overtaken natural gas as the largest single power source for Bitcoin mining.
The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance’s Alexander Neumueller presented the figures at the Energy Investors Forum in Dallas. Cambridge expects to publish a fuller Digital Mining Industry Report update later in 2026. In the updated mix, low-carbon power accounted for 59.4% of the reported electricity used for Bitcoin mining, up from 52.4% in the prior study.
Even with a cleaner power mix, total estimated greenhouse-gas emissions still increased by 20%, rising from roughly 40 million to 48 million tonnes CO₂e. Cambridge links part of the hydropower rise to stronger survey coverage in hydro-rich regions such as Ethiopia, including mining expansion tied to low-cost electricity from the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Cambridge also notes that higher annualized electricity demand does not mean miners exactly consumed 190 TWh in calendar-year 2025. Survey limitations may affect geography: responses slightly above half of global hashrate are used, and US company responses could overstate US mining share.
On diversification, only about 10% of surveyed miners said they had already allocated power to AI or accelerated computing, while more than 40% are exploring it. However, “intent” is not “deployment”, due to different reliability and infrastructure requirements versus Bitcoin mining sites.
Neutral
This news is more about mining energy mix than about Bitcoin’s fundamentals (spot demand, ETF flows, protocol changes). The headline data is mixed for traders: Bitcoin mining electricity use rises 38%, which can increase regulatory and ESG pressure (a potential overhang), but hydropower replacing gas and low-carbon electricity rising to 59.4% is a partial “clean-up” narrative that can reduce long-run reputational risk.
Short-term, markets typically react to energy/ESG headlines only if they are linked to direct policy actions (licensing limits, bans, or power-price shocks). Here, the report is preliminary and survey-based, so traders may treat it as background information rather than an immediate catalyst. Long-term, sustained shifts toward hydropower and slower emissions growth—while electricity demand keeps climbing—could support more stable mining economics and potentially reduce the probability of sudden supply disruptions.
Similar past episodes include periodic updates from mining-efficiency or energy-mix studies that temporarily moved sentiment but usually reverted unless followed by concrete regulation. The addition that miners are exploring AI/HPC diversification may be incremental for sentiment around miner profitability, but it is not yet broad enough (only ~10% deployed) to materially change Bitcoin supply dynamics.