The same electricity demand can produce different emissions in different hours and places.
Why it matters
Collapsing energy, emissions and grid value into one number produces advocacy rather than analysis.
Measure demand honestly
EIA estimated a wide range for U.S. mining electricity use and emphasized uncertainty because facilities move and public data are incomplete. Ranges and methods matter more than false precision.
Electricity versus emissions
Consumption is measured in energy; emissions depend on what generation responds. Renewable claims need time- and location-aware evidence, while fossil claims also need a credible marginal-generation method.
Flexible load
Some mining can curtail quickly and locate near constrained supply. That can provide grid services in specific contracts; it does not prove that every facility benefits every grid.
The better-energy test
A defensible project discloses metered demand, location, generation assumptions, curtailment behavior, community impacts and the opportunity cost of power and infrastructure.