Want to Support Green Energy Innovation? Consider Buying Bitcoin
When looking at the various news articles related to Bitcoin (and all of Cryptocurrency) the overwhelming sentiment is that it is a huge waste of electricity and a major cause of pollution. While there is no doubt that Bitcoin requires massive amounts of electricity in order to secure the network, it is not all bad when it comes to the environment.
For the past several decades, governments and activist groups have been trying to promote green energy technologies to help minimize climate change. While their intentions are undoubtedly good, simple good intentions do not produce fast or effective results. The history of green energy is littered (pun intended) with terrible ideas and companies that were propped up through government funding or the support of major donors.
With Bitcoin, however, protecting the environment is absolutely not a main goal. Bitcoin miners and investors are not at all altruistic in their efforts. Instead, they are simply looking to make as much money as possible from this emerging technology. There are many different ways to calculate electricity requirements for the Bitcoin network, but when you factor in the direct mining requirements, cooling requirements, and other things, the total consumption is massive. And that is only likely to go up in the coming years.
So, How is Bitcoin Good for Green Energy
Love it or hate it, greed is a powerful motivator. Bitcoin miners are very greedy and want to maximize their profits as much as possible. On one side of the equation, this means increasing the amount of processing power by adding more miners and creating more effective equipment. On the other side, however, is reducing the costs of the electricity that is needed to run those machines.
This has helped to motivate major mining organizations to push for innovation in the green energy space. If there is a way to harness cheap and clean energy, it is being harnessed by those in the crypto space. The investments into these technologies are not only helping to reduce the total carbon emissions from mining, but also push forward the practicality of green energy for use in other industries.
There are studies today that show that as much as 76% of crypto miners are using green energy as part of their strategy. In addition, up to 50% of all the electricity needed for Bitcoin mining is from green sources. That number is quickly going up. Check out just a few of the ways that crypto mining is pushing the goal of green energy production within the industry and throughout the world:
· Mining Bitcoin with Volcanic Heat — El Salvador has recently announced a project to begin Bitcoin mining using an active volcano to produce the energy.
· Using Waste Gas to Mine Bitcoin — Natural gas is produced as a byproduct of many types of oil production. In the past, it was just burned away as waste. Today, many companies are harnessing that gas and using it to power mining rigs.
· Solar & Battery Tech Powers Bitcoin — Many major Bitcoin mining companies install solar panels and advanced batteries to dramatically cut their total electrical costs. In many cases, they are able to operate entirely off of solar and even create a surplus that can be fed back into the main grid.
· Brainwaves to Mine Crypto — This one is a little out there, but Microsoft has patented technology that may allow people to mine cryptocurrency using their brainwaves. This is definitely a green option.
· Hydroelectric Innovation for Bitcoin Mining — Hydroelectricity has nearly limitless potential, but it hasn’t gained mainstream use in many areas. Bitcoin miners, however, are building facilities near areas where they can harness the power of the motion of water to generate clean and reliable energy.
· Much More — There are dozens of other examples of crypto miners using innovation and creativity to get the electricity they need.
Of course, the total amount of dirty energy still being used to mine cryptocurrency is a concern, but it does nobody any good to ignore the positive impacts that the industry has had on green energy. It is very possible that coming generations will see cryptocurrency as a major driving force behind the mainstream adoption of green technologies.
Adding the Profit Motive to Green Energy
While it would certainly be nice if everyone worked hard to innovate better green energy tech, but that is just not the reality we live in. Today, however, there is a rapidly growing profit motive that is helping to push innovation in this space forward. Things like Tesla making highly desirable electric cars and Bitcoin miners wanting access to affordable energy are helping to make progress more rapidly than good intentions ever could.