Mining digital money is often blamed for the fact that it causes harm to the nature. However, the situation is changing right now. How a new type of asset helps grow strawberries in Canada and why the main friends of miners are wind, sun and water

Mining requires a lot of electricity. The average electricity consumption of the bitcoin network can be compared to the needs of entire countries. The University of Cambridge says the figure is 97 terawatts per year. Kazakhstan or the Netherlands consume about the same amount of energy per year. For comparison, a year ago, the mark barely exceeded 73 terawatts annually.

Experts find it difficult to accurately assess the carbon footprint of bitcoin mining, but agree on one thing: the cryptocurrency causes serious damage to the environment. In China, which accounts for more than half of the entire BTC system, most of the electricity is produced from coal-fired power plants. This method of mining is the cheapest in China.

The other side of the coin is the cost of electricity. For many miners, it becomes unprofitable to mine coins, because the cost of electricity exceeds the income from mining. From China and Germany, the miners move to Scandinavia, Russia, USA and Canada. Mining in countries with cold climates allows you to reduce the cost of bitcoin.

Although the reason for migration is most often concern for their own income, all this has led to the search for alternative ways to solve problems and the emergence of" green", or environmental mining.

Methods of environmental mining

Ecomining is characterized by the use of renewable energy sources. This can be hydroelectric power stations or energy obtained from the sun or wind. The crypto community does not forget about the problem of excessive heat. It is inevitably produced by mining equipment and can harm the ecosystem. Scientists fear that due to mining, the average temperature of the Earth may increase by 2 degrees Celsius.

At the moment, the only way to reduce the environmental damage from cryptocurrency mining is to use alternative electricity:

wind energy (wind turbines);
geothermal energy;
solar energy (solar panels);
hydroelectric power stations.
If possible, miners settle in regions where "green" methods of electricity production are available. These are areas with powerful rivers, enough sun for solar panels and wind power. Mining has become a driving force in the development of hydroelectric power in Sichuan province, which accounts for about 50% of the world's bitcoin production. Hydromining is considered a separate method of coin production.

World experience

Iceland

Since 2013, one of the most famous mining farms, Genesis Mining Enigma, has been operating in Iceland. The platform is powered exclusively by geothermal energy.

In 2018 Iceland was at risk of running out of electricity due to the growing number of miners in the country. Data centers consumed more electricity than residents of the country. The low cost of electricity, environmental friendliness of its production and cold climate attract more and more "miners"to the country. To solve the problem, the startup Moonlite Project decided to open a representative office in Iceland. The company has developed a system for "smart" electricity consumption based on artificial intelligence. Moonlite plans to run on energy from renewable sources: hydro, wind and geothermal.

Canada

Canadians decided to use the heat from ASIC miners. The average annual temperature in the province of Quebec is about 5 degrees Celsius, which affects the cost of heating and water heating. The company Heatmine decided to kill two birds with one stone: find a use for the excess heat from mining and reduce its cost.

As an experiment, Heatmine connected the plant to a greenhouse where strawberries are grown. As a result, the cost of heating the greenhouse decreased by 75-100%, and canadian strawberries could compete with Mexican ones. In the future, the company plans to test the possibility of heating homes using heat from mining farms.

Myera Group has also found a way to recycle excess heat. They heat the water with heat from ASIC miners. First, the water is used for breeding fish, and then used for watering plants in greenhouses. Another part of the energy is spent on heating.

The Ghost town of ocean falls in Canada has faced a problem of overproduction of electricity. There is a dam in the city, and only 30% of the energy produced is consumed by local residents. Miners organized the eco-friendly center Ocean Falls Blockchain. Cryptocurrency is extracted here using hydroelectric power.

Japan

In Japan, thanks to the crypto community, the use of alternative energy sources is growing. Kumamoto-Energy Co Ltd produces and supplies energy derived from solar panels. The company launched its OZ Mining subsidiary in 2017. It produces cryptocurrency by purchasing energy from Kumamoto-Energy. This allows you to recycle excess electricity and reduce the cost of cryptomining.

In the same year 2017 Japan began experimenting with other sources of energy. The small town of Kazuno uses hydroelectric power, wind power, and geothermal sources to generate electricity. The Miner Garage company took advantage of the opportunity and opened a mining center based on clean energy in the city.

China

Despite the non-environmental nature of mining in the country, China ranks first in the production of cryptocurrency in the world. The country can't afford to lose miners, so we have to look for "green" energy sources. This affects tariffs, which are still competitive compared to other countries.

The state itself is involved in stimulating eco-energy projects. In 2019, the country's authorities proposed to reduce the land tax for solar energy projects. Sichuan province, the bitcoin capital of China, gets its energy from heavy rains. In 2018, it received 78.2 gigawatts due to rain.

The Chinese company Lenovo offered its assistance in the development of eco-friendly cooling systems for equipment. It is assumed that they will use less energy, which will have a positive impact on the environmental situation in the country.

Chinese companies are trying to make mining more environmentally friendly also because of threats from the authorities. The Chinese government is concerned about the damage caused by mining and therefore from time to time offers to completely prohibit mining cryptocurrency on the territory of the country.

Great Britain

In London, miners created EcoHashes. This is a cryptocurrency mining project that works to make all mining economical, efficient and eco-friendly at the same time.

To do this, the project relies on renewable energy sources. Wind generators, solar panels and hydro generators meet the company's needs. Combined with the latest energy-efficient mining hardware, this helps EcoHashes achieve their goals. The company also uses the latest cooling systems that use the minimum amount of energy.

The prospects

"Green" mining is becoming an increasingly promising direction for the development of the blockchain industry. Energy costs for farms will only increase, which means that people will need more diverse sources of energy.

Christopher Bendixen, head of research at CoinShares, spoke about trends in cryptomining. He believes that mining will inevitably become eco-friendly.

"Miners strive primarily to survive in a highly competitive environment in order to find the cheapest energy. It so happens that it is cheaper to produce energy on the planet through renewable energy sources, " Bendiksen said.

Hydroelectric power plants and gas and oil companies seem to be the most profitable sources of energy for the mining industry. The use of natural gas waste is another promising industry in energy production.

Eco-friendly mining has every chance to become a boon not only for the environment, but also for humanity as a whole, and there are a number of reasons for this. Utilization of surplus electricity produced and development of "green" methods of production will reduce its cost. The migration of miners to countries that are not rich, but convenient for the production of cryptocurrencies, can have a positive impact on the economy. Migration to Venezuela, Myanmar and Russia is gaining momentum. Due to the settlement of miners dying given new life.

As for ecology, practice has shown that there are all possibilities to make cryptocurrency mining completely eco-friendly in the near future.