NYT article on Bitcoin and why it uses so much electricity

The more I read about Bitcoin, the more excited I get. It started as a simple idea / project among a small group of users and today, the entire Bitcoin network consumes more electricity than some countries! Impressive for something that is so "young" relative to other projects that have touched so many lives. 

If it took Bitcoin a decade to consume this much electricity, imagine what the next decade will hold. Could Bitcoin be the driving force to use more green, renewable energy? It would be such a turn of events if in ten years most of the electricity that is being used for mining comes from solar, wind or other forms of renewables. 

That usage, which is close to half-a-percent of all the electricity consumed in the world, has increased about tenfold in just the past five years

Link to NYT article (free)