Hass McCook is an Oxford MBA that's put together an interesting series of articles on the true costs and environmental impacts of various monetary systems - Bitcoin, gold, fiat currency, and the banks that handle them.

• "Economic & Environmental Costs of Bitcoin Mining" - http://www.coindesk.com/microscope-economic-environmental-costs-bitcoin-mining/
• "True Costs of Gold Production" - http://www.coindesk.com/microscope-true-costs-gold-production/
• "Real Costs of a Dollar" - http://www.coindesk.com/microscope-real-costs-dollar/
• "True Costs of Banking" - http://www.coindesk.com/microscope-true-costs-banking/
• "Conclusions on the Cost of Bitcoin" - http://www.coindesk.com/microscope-conclusions-costs-bitcoin/