能源資訊管理局（EIA）計劃未來進行比特幣挖礦資料收集調查

今天由能源資訊管理局主辦的網路研討會闡述了他們在今年 3 月 1 日達成協議停止之前的緊急調查並銷毀所有記錄後，針對美國比特幣挖礦業務的數據收集調查的未來工作計劃在其運作過程中收集。

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently hosted a webinar to discuss their future plans for collecting data on Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. This follows an agreement on March 1 to discontinue the prior emergency survey and destroy all records gathered during its operation.

能源資訊管理局（EIA）最近舉辦了一次網路研討會，討論他們收集美國比特幣挖礦業務數據的未來計劃。在此之前，3 月 1 日達成協議，停止先前的緊急調查並銷毀其行動期間收集的所有記錄。

According to the EIA, there are currently no outstanding survey attempts listed on the Federal Registrar or in progress. The webinar aimed to gather feedback from the public and ecosystem participants on the types of information that could be collected, existing data that may be valuable to the agency, and important factors to consider in formulating a future survey.

根據 EIA 的說法，目前聯邦登記處沒有列出或正在進行任何未完成的調查嘗試。該網路研討會旨在收集公眾和生態系統參與者對可以收集的資訊類型、可能對該機構有價值的現有數據以及製定未來調查時需要考慮的重要因素的反饋。

Two major challenges highlighted by the EIA in gaining a clearer picture of Bitcoin mining in the U.S. include the difficulty in identifying mining operations among general energy consumers on the grid and the ability for mining operations to quickly relocate to areas with lower electricity prices, making it hard to track the current state of operations.

EIA 強調，為了更清楚了解美國比特幣挖礦情況，面臨的兩大挑戰包括：難以辨識電網上一般能源消費者的挖礦業務，以及挖礦業務能否快速轉移到電價較低的地區，這使得挖礦業務無法快速遷移到電價較低的地區。

The agency currently plans to begin the process of initiating a survey sometime this year, potentially this quarter, and aims to incorporate any feedback from industry participants and the public in structuring the survey.

該機構目前計劃在今年某個時候（可能是本季）開始啟動一項調查，旨在將產業參與者和公眾的回饋納入建構調查的過程中。

Several industry members participated in the webinar, including Thomas Mapes of the Digital Energy Council, Michael Postupak of the Blockchain Association, Margot Paez of the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Georgia Tech, Jayson Browder of Marathon Digital Holdings, and Lee Bratcher of the Texas Blockchain Council.

幾位行業成員參加了網路研討會，包括數位能源委員會的Thomas Mapes、區塊鏈協會的Michael Postupak、比特幣政策研究所和佐治亞理工學院的Margot Paez、Marathon Digital Holdings 的Jayson Browder 和德克薩斯州區塊鏈委員會的Lee Bratcher 。

The speakers普遍强调了比特币挖矿对其能源基础设施的积极影响，特别是它有助于促进需求响应计划，在普通消费者需求高峰期间释放电力，以及通过在其他需求来源不足时吸收多余的电力产能来增加可再生能源的生产能力。

The speakers普遍強調了比特幣挖礦對其能源基礎設施的積極影響，特別是它有助於促進需求響應計劃，在普通消費者需求高峰期間釋放電力，以及通過在其他需求來源不足時吸收多餘的電力產能來增加再生能源的生產能力。

Bratcher specifically raised the issue of Bitcoin miners being singled out for a survey targeted solely at them and suggested expanding the survey to include data centers in general, specifically distinguishing between data centers that are inflexible and must remain powered up consistently and flexible data centers that can dynamically power down in response to the needs of consumers or grid operators.

布拉徹特別提出了比特幣礦工被挑選出來進行一項專門針對他們的調查的問題，並建議擴大調查範圍以包括一般的數據中心，特別區分不靈活且必須保持持續通電的數據中心和靈活的資料中心，這些資料中心可以根據消費者或電網營運商的需求動態斷電。

This was echoed by Browder as a source of hesitance and skepticism from mining operators in the industry on why they were being targeted by the survey.

布勞德對此表示贊同，認為業內礦業業者對自己為何成為調查目標感到猶豫和懷疑。

Dennis Heidner, a member of the public attending the webinar, expressed his concern that the capital investment of miners may actually disincentivize them from powering down their operations during times of high demand. He suggested that this be included in structuring future surveys as a factor to be considered, given that miners still need to recoup their hardware investments and curtailing operations would result in a loss of revenue during that time period.

參加網路研討會的公眾丹尼斯·海德納 (Dennis Heidner) 表達了他的擔憂，即礦工的資本投資實際上可能會抑制他們在高需求時期關閉營運的積極性。他建議將這一點納入未來調查的結構中，作為一個要考慮的因素，因為礦商仍需要收回硬體投資，而減少營運將導致該時期的收入損失。

Finally, Paez proposed the idea of Georgia Tech partnering with the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory, where researcher Arman Shehabi is currently conducting research on AI and data center energy consumption. Her rationale was that research is already underway to collect the type of data the EIA is seeking in their surveys, and given the relationships she has developed within the mining industry, and the relevance of datacenter power consumption to the EIA’s general concern about Bitcoin mining, this partnership could combine already existing research to address the EIA’s needs.

最後，Paez 提出了佐治亞理工學院與勞倫斯伯克利國家實驗室合作的想法，該實驗室的研究員 Arman Shehabi 目前正在進行人工智慧和資料中心能耗的研究。她的理由是，研究已經在進行中，以收集EIA 在調查中尋求的數據類型，並考慮到她在採礦業中建立的關係，以及數據中心功耗與EIA 對比特幣採礦的普遍關注的相關性，這種夥伴關係可以結合現有的研究來滿足環境影響評估的需求。

This would also allow an impartial non-governmental group to handle the actual data collection itself, working to anonymize the data itself while still providing the EIA with an accurate view needed to inform policy decisions without compromising the privacy of mining operations within the space.

這也將使公正的非政府組織能夠自行處理實際的資料收集，努力對資料本身進行匿名處理，同時仍為EIA 提供為政策決策提供資訊所需的準確視圖，而不會損害該空間內採礦作業的隱私。

Overall, the webinar indicates a deep rethinking of the approach the EIA is taking in terms of data collection regarding Bitcoin mining operations in the United States. They now seem to be open to a collaborative path forward with industry players in the wake of the emergency survey being shot down in court, rather than the adversarial and rushed path the emergency survey attempted to take.

總體而言，這項網路研討會表明，EIA 對美國比特幣挖礦業務資料收集方法進行了深入反思。在緊急調查在法庭上被駁回後，他們現在似乎願意與行業參與者合作，而不是緊急調查試圖採取的對抗性和倉促的道路。