🌴 Offsett 🌳

A RESTful carbon footprint calculator for Bitcoin 🌳

This repository consists of the API and an example website based on the API that people can use to calculate the carbon footprint of their Bitcoin transactions.

Table of Contents

• API
  • Getting started
  • Endpoints
  • HTTP Status Codes
• Example Website
  • Getting started
• Problem
• Solution
• Tips

API

This is a RESTful API that returns JSON-encoded responses. It is Node.js + Typescript based, uses Chai and Mocha for testing and Istanbul for tracking code coverage.

Getting started w/API

Install dependencies: npm install

Start server: npm start

Run tests: npm run test

Run test + check for code coverage: npm run test:coverage

Endpoints

GET /estimate-impact/wallet-id/:BitcoinAddress

estimate the carbon footprint of an entire Bitcoin wallet

GET /estimate-impact/transaction-id/:transactionID

estimate the carbon footprint of a single Bitcoin transaction give the transaction ID

GET /estimate-impact/transaction-date/:date

estimate the carbon footprint of a single Bitcoin transaction, just knowing the date of transaction

HTTP Status Codes

2xx Request was handled successfully

4xx Request failed because of user

5xx Request failed because of errors in the API

Example Website

The example website is based on React React APP (React.js), ant.design and Typescript.

Getting started w/Website

Install dependencies: npm install

Start website: npm start

Build website: npm run build

Problem

Proof-of-Work-based cryptocurrencies are not sustainable, because the compute power needed for mining requires a lot of electricity. According to Digiconomist, a single Bitcoin transaction on July 16th, 2022 consumes ~1582 kWh, equivalent to ~882 kg CO2.

Solution

This repo provides a carbon footprint calculator as an API for Bitcoin wallets (based on Digiconomist). It could provide the basis for tools that offset the carbon emissions of bitcoin (and other PoW coins). When you book a flight, there is often a button that you can click to support some project that compensates for the carbon footprint of your flight. There could be a similar button when you e.g. trade Bitcoin on Coinbase.

Tips

• Use the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, instead of Digiconomist, they provide more accurate calculations (source)
• Understand how the calculations work. They can never be accurate and are subject to many assumptions depending on the used model (used hardware, energy mix of miners, location of miners, profitability, etc.).
• Check out Cloverly or Wren as potential partners for offsetting, but always double-check to verify, that there is no greenwashing involved (this is a general problem, not specifically for Cloverly or Wren).