Bitcoin Mining Demand Surges 38% as Hydropower Takes Lead
Bitcoin mining's electricity demand jumped 38% in just under two years, reaching an annualized 190 terawatt-hours in December 2025. This significant increase is according to preliminary research by the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, presented at the Energy Investors Forum in Dallas.
The surge in power use was driven by a growing number of mining machines joining the network, resulting in a higher hashrate. However, the cleaner energy mix used by miners led to a slower rate of emissions growth, with greenhouse gas emissions increasing by 20% from around 40 million to 48 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent.
The report also found that hydropower had overtaken natural gas as Bitcoin mining's largest single energy source. Low-carbon power supplied 59.4% of the reported mining mix, up from 52.4% in the previous study. The change is partly attributed to stronger survey coverage in hydro-rich markets such as Ethiopia.
Miners are also exploring alternative uses for their power capacity, with about 10% of respondents already allocating some power to artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. However, Neumueller cautioned that 'intent to look into it is not commitment to deploy,' highlighting the challenges in transitioning from basic Bitcoin mining sites to AI data centers.