Background: During the last years, there has been a lot of discussion and estimations on the energy consumption of Bitcoin miners. However, most of the studies are focused on estimating energy consumption, not in exploring the factors that determine it. Goal: To explore the factors that determine maximum energy consumption of Bitcoin miners. In particular, analyze the limits of energy consumption, and to which extent variations of the factors could produce its reduction. Method: Estimate the overall profit of all Bitcoin miners during a certain period of time, and the costs (including energy) that they face during that time, because of the mining activity. The underlying assumptions is that miners will only consume energy to mine Bitcoin if they have the expectation of profit, and at the same time they are competitive with respect of each other. Therefore, they will operate as a group in the point where profits balance expenditures. Results: We show a basic equation that determines energy consumption based on some specific factors: minting, transaction fees, exchange rate, energy price, and amortization cost. We also define the Amortization Factor, which can be computed for mining devices based on their cost and energy consumption, helps to understand how the cost of equipment influences total energy consumption. Conclusions: The factors driving energy consumption are identified, and from them, some ways in which Bitcoin energy consumption could be reduced are discussed. Some of these ways do not reduce the most important properties of Bitcoin, such as the chances of control of the aggregated hashpower, or the fundamentals of the proof of work mechanism. In general, the methods presented can help to predict energy consumption in different scenarios, based on factors that can be calculated from available data, or assumed in scenarios.

中文翻译：

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决定比特币矿机最大能耗的因素

背景：在过去的几年里，关于比特币矿工的能源消耗有很多讨论和估计。然而，大多数研究都集中在估算能源消耗上，而不是探索决定它的因素。目标：探索决定比特币矿工最大能耗的因素。特别是分析能源消耗的极限，以及因素的变化可以在多大程度上降低能耗。方法：估算所有比特币矿工在一段时间内的总体利润，以及他们在这段时间内由于挖矿活动而面临的成本（包括能源）。潜在的假设是，矿工只有在期望盈利的情况下才会消耗能源来开采比特币，同时他们相互之间具有竞争力。因此，他们将在利润平衡支出的点上作为一个集团运作。结果：我们展示了一个基本方程，该方程根据一些特定因素确定能源消耗：铸造、交易费用、汇率、能源价格和摊销成本。我们还定义了 Amortization Factor，它可以根据挖矿设备的成本和能耗来计算，有助于了解设备的成本如何影响总能耗。结论：确定了驱动能源消耗的因素，并从中讨论了一些可以减少比特币能源消耗的方法。其中一些方法不会减少比特币最重要的属性，例如控制聚合哈希能力的机会，或工作量证明机制的基础。一般来说，