Green Bitcoin – The Significance and Some Notable Projects

Tuesday, 23/05/2023 09:00 (GTM +7)

Bitcoin’s Massive Energy Consumption

In recent years, the significant rise of Bitcoin (cryptocurrency) has hurt climate change because of the enormous energy consumption when mining and trading them. Specifically, according to the electricity consumption index measured by the University of Cambridge, Bitcoin mining globally consumes 128.84 TWh per year, more than the annual electricity consumption in Ukraine and Argentina.

In 2022, according to a De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) report, each Bitcoin transaction emitted a staggering amount of CO2, equivalent to what the average household emits for three weeks. Furthermore, the carbon footprint is increasing due to the increasing number of Bitcoin transactions. According to Goodkind (2020), to overcome the problem of the environment and public health, spend about 0.49 USD of the total value that Bitcoin creates.

“Bitcoin transactions consume more electricity than any other method known to mankind.” – Bill Gates

Greening Bitcoin: Cryptocurrency Mining and Innovative Projects

In the last few years, the Bitcoin mining market has seen ideas to green up Bitcoin, being environmentally friendly. According to the Bitcoin Mining Council (BCM), an organization founded not long ago to promote renewable energy, using sustainable clean energy in the Bitcoin mining industry has increased by 15% from Q1 to Q2 2021.

According to the BMC report, 67.6% of the green energy used for Bitcoin mining comes from sustainable energy sources that ensure low environmental impact much more than other industries, showing a positive signal from Bitcoin mining.

ITI Fund - Tỷ lệ sử dụng năng lượng xanh toàn cầu trong việc khai thác Bitcoin As a share of the global total green energy in Bitcoin mining (Source: Bitcoin Mining Council)

Block and Blockstream: The project uses Solar Energy to mine Bitcoin.

When reports pointed to the negative impact of Bitcoin on the environment in 2017, many ranchers in Australia, the USA, etc., invested in large solar power systems to mine Bitcoin, and this trend flourished a lot when the virtual currency craze rose in price. However, this transition has become more critical, with the current crypto market increasingly detrimental to the environment.

In May 2021, Elon Musk sent the Bitcoin industry into crisis when he announced that Tesla would refuse to accept Bitcoin payments because of concerns that they use more and more fossil fuels in mining and trading. This has awakened Bitcoin companies, and efforts to “go green” have been made. In Texas (USA), two technology companies, Block and Blockstream, inaugurated a Bitcoin “mining” centre using Tesla’s solar energy and solar batteries to power the “mining” and storage machines’ excess electricity for Bitcoin mining at night and on sunny days. Both Block and Blockstream expect the project to be able to scale this 100 times in the future.

Easy Crypto Hunter – Turn cow dung into bioenergy mining cryptocurrency (crypto)

During the decomposition of animal manure, methane gas is produced, and after anaerobic digestion, the six-cylinder engine impacts the methane and generates heat and electricity. In the past, in the UK, farmers only sold these energy sources to the national grid. However, since realizing that powering crypto companies will bring ten times more attractive profits, they use these energy sources more.

Established in 2017, Easy Crypto Hunter – Manchester (UK) is now witnessing solid sales growth thanks to farmers’ use of green energy from the anaerobic decomposition of cow dung to mine money electronically. CEO of Easy Crypto Hunter said: “When we started our business four years ago, green energy was not on our customers’ radar, but now it accounts for about 40% of our business and still grows every day”.

Nautilus – Bitcoin mining project powered by nuclear energy

In theory, nuclear power is a great energy source for the Bitcoin mining industry, but the idea is not very popular and takes years to implement. However, some companies are very lost about these prospects.

Nautilus was born in 2021 to build a green data center powered by nuclear energy and pioneer using atomic energy to mine Bitcoin cryptocurrency. This is an essential step towards more sustainable Bitcoin mining practices and marks an important milestone in adopting nuclear energy in the technology industry. Nautilus used more than 91% of zero-carbon energy to power approximately 9,200 miners, playing an essential role in contributing to the 3 EH/s average active hash rate for the month, which outperformed compared competitors in the Bitcoin mining sector.

El Salvador – The country that mines Bitcoin from volcanic energy

With the natural advantage of being “the land of volcanoes”, according to an official report from the civil electricity company in El Salvador, in 2021, geothermal energy will account for 25% of the country’s electricity production. As the first country to accept Bitcoin as a legal and permitted currency, the government of El Salvador has increasingly focused on using volcanic energy to mine Bitcoin. Volcanic energy Bitcoin mining is conducted by state-owned energy company LaGeo SA de CV, where geothermal energy from the volcano was used to generate 0.00599179 Bitcoins, equivalent to approximately approx 269 USD.

Excess energy from Bitcoin mining to heat tulips

In addition to using clean energy sources to mine Bitcoin, this process also generates a significant amount of residual heat to save and limit the negative impact on the environment, making the most of the heat source.

In Amsterdam (Netherlands), in the context of tulip growing, businesses are losing money and having to temporarily stop operating due to the high cost of energy used in the cultivation process along with the realization of powerful computers and high temperatures used to mine cryptocurrencies can produce excess heat up to 20°C, a local startup has partnered with Bitcoin mining company to develop the idea of using the excess heat for heating greenhouses growing tulips. This combination will help reduce dependence on natural gas, fossil energy sources and limit carbon emissions into the environment.

The combination of tulip greenhouses and Bitcoin mining for crop heating (Source: Euronews)

After the statements of Bill Gates, Elon Musk, etc., about the harmful impact of Bitcoin on the environment, this issue has received more attention and emerged as a warning bell. The report prompts countries and organizations to promote the use of green energy in Bitcoin mining instead of traditional animation. This transformation is gradually becoming an inevitable trend in the world, helping to contribute to energy conservation and sustainable economic development.