3 Environmentalists Fighting Climate Change With Bitcoin
There are hundreds of environmentalists around the world who believe that the bitcoin ecosystem can actually help reduce carbon emissions and increase reliance on renewable energy. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar power, provide inconsistent power to grids in places like Texas. Bitcoin mining is a flexible load, allowing miners to ramp up and down with the sometimes unpredictable production schedules of wind and solar.
By adding bitcoin miners to the mix, the electricity system can store energy and value, plus swing mining in accordance with urban demands to keep the power grid steady. And that’s just one of many reasons environmentalists are thinking about bitcoin on Earth Day 2023.
Most of these bitcoin-savvy environmentalists aren’t talking about a move to proof-of-stake, the less power-hungry alternative system the EthereumETH network uses. Instead, bitcoin users believe that bitcoin’s existing proof-of-work mining mechanism offers a unique potential to increase reliance on renewable energy.
Why Bitcoin PoW requires so much energy
The Bitcoin network uses a consensus mechanism referred to as PoW, where computers use electricity to solve cryptographic problems. The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index, as of February 2023, revealed experts estimate that more than half of bitcoin’s global electricity consumption already comes from renewable sources.
Although critics often vilify PoW’s electricity use, it is precisely this mechanism that gives bitcoin miners the ability to complement renewable energy projects. Bitcoin miners are also scalable and transportable, allowing operators to monetize wasted and stranded energy at source, such as capturing methane gas.
Here are a few environmentalists who are leveraging bitcoin mining in unique ways to help meet clean energy and environmental goals.
The climate investor
Daniel Batten is co-founder of CH4 Capital, which finances projects that reduce landfill emissions by turning vented methane into electricity. He has been a climate technology investor since 2018, and a climate activist since 1997. Batten’s early opinions on bitcoin ranged from disinterested to horrified.
After a grueling effort to minimize his personal footprint, Batten realized that the only important metric was emissions. This spark ignited his journey into the bitcoin space, which he credits with turning him into an even more passionate climate activist.
Batten’s research led him to eventually vent methane from landfills, a major source of global emissions. His company now assists landfills in harnessing the methane to generate electricity for bitcoin mining. By transforming the gas into a revenue stream, Batten is optimistic that bitcoin mining will grow to become a formidable weapon in his fight against climate change.
The contractor for renewable energy
Nathaniel Harmon and Michael Bennett are both co-founders of OceanBit, the company developing an Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion technique to use temperature variations in ocean water to generate clean energy. Harmon and Bennett started the company with help from friends and family. The Ministry of Energy also provided a sub-subsidy. Harmon told me their goal is to start raising outside money this year.
Harmon began his climate journey after experiencing reef bleaching first hand while working as a diving instructor. He found bitcoin early, and took advantage of the 2013 bull market to finance several master’s degrees at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
He is now working on a free-floating 10 megawatt OTEC power plant with bitcoin miners. The bitcoin revenue will allow OTEC platforms to achieve economies of scale, making energy more affordable, a feat not previously possible with isolated offshore power plants before bitcoin.
Harmon says the mining platform will also “sequester megatons of carbon and create a hyperproductive fishery in the open ocean.” He is optimistic that OTEC is a solution with the potential to make bitcoin mining profitable without increasing carbon emissions.
The Climate Positive Asset Connector
Elliott David is head of climate strategy and partnerships at the fintech startup called Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol. SBP encourages bitcoin miners to use verified clean energy sources by aligning with climate conscious investors. David believes that over the next decade, bitcoin mining will be responsible for more clean energy development than the bitcoin network can consume, ultimately turning bitcoin into a “climate-positive asset.”
David told me that he is optimistic that free market forces will be the driving factor in the transition to clean energy. All things considered, bitcoin users around the world are celebrating Earth Day by researching and experimenting with different ways to use bitcoin mining to promote a massive transition to renewable and clean energy sources. Bitcoin’s PoW mechanism makes it great for interconnection with hydro, wind and solar power as well. The above researchers all see bitcoin as a core pillar of a sustainable future with fewer carbon emissions.
“If they [miners] benefits the planet, then they should be paid for it,” said David in an interview with me. “By changing the narrative around bitcoin, we can unlock its potential as one of the world’s most powerful climate-positive asset classes.”
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