As others have pointed out, bitcoin mining doesn't tend to happen in places where fossil fuels are used for electricity generation, simply because it isn't profitable to do so.
Instead it tends to gravitate fairly quickly to places that currently have an surplus of energy and therefore extremely cheap power generation.
But ya, though I agree the amount of power that goes into mining and keeping the blockchain safe is absurd, the crazy competition and economies there have driven most of that to green sources. So yay I guess?
If the power was not wasted in mining it could have been used for something useful therefore reducing the carbon footprint in other places that don't rely so heavily on hydroelectric.
Maybe. See my comment about fungibility. I don't think power transmission costs are insignificant at a distance, and I suspect if it were the case for Wenatchee, Seattle and other large urban centers would happily buy up their cheap power instead of producing their own.
Instead it tends to gravitate fairly quickly to places that currently have an surplus of energy and therefore extremely cheap power generation.
In the US that is Washington state, near Wenatchee, where the power is the cheapest in the nation: http://www.electricitylocal.com/states/washington/wenatchee/
The reason for that price is that it is all hydro, so no co2 produced. (though depending on how fungible you view power it could be argued otherwise) http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2011/jun/01/cheapest-elec...
But ya, though I agree the amount of power that goes into mining and keeping the blockchain safe is absurd, the crazy competition and economies there have driven most of that to green sources. So yay I guess?