Bitcoin mining using solar energy and volcanic energy

 Bitcoin mining using solar energy and volcanic energy

  Companies are spending millions of dollars to provide alternative energy sources of electricity in Bitcoin mining, which ranges from solar energy to volcanic heat.

  Cryptocurrency mining consumes more electricity than the Netherlands and Belgium combined, according to arstechnica. It is roughly equivalent to the amount of energy used in the production of gold globally.

What is cryptocurrency mining?

  Mining is the process of producing new cryptocurrencies and putting them into circulation, and because they are virtual currencies that take place through a decentralized network or what is known as the Blockchain.

Transactions are verified through complex mathematical operations on the computers of miners.

  Mining for cryptocurrency is subject to security chases in most countries, such as: China, India, the United States of America and Iran. Governments accuse miners of causing environmental damage as a result of the massive consumption of energy, which threatens the occurrence of crises of energy shortages and power outages, as Tehran claims recently. It throws Failing to manage the ongoing power outage crisis over cryptocurrency mining operations.

  US technology companies Block and Blockstream are preparing to launch a bitcoin mining hub in June that runs entirely on solar energy, in a new effort to reduce the cost of cryptocurrency mining and make the process more green.

  Blockstream CEO Adam Back said that the electronic payment group Block, formerly known as Square, and the blockchain company, Blockstream, have invested $6 million in the pilot project, which is expected to produce about 0.1 bitcoin per day.

Tesla and Solar Mining Corporation

  Blockstream revealed that the center will be located in West Texas and will be equipped with solar panels and batteries from Tesla.

And the CEO of Tesla stated that the company may start its work in the field of lithium mining and refining on a large scale, after the cost of the metal rose significantly, which affects the production of batteries.

  Elon Musk wrote on his Twitter account that the price of lithium has reached exaggerated levels, despite the availability of the metal almost everywhere on Earth, but the crisis lies in the pace of its extraction and mining.

"A lot of people talked about this theory, and we thought we should try it in practice, so we have actual data that people can look at, use, and rely on," Buck added.

He noted that "the goal is to demonstrate that mining can help finance facilities" for renewable energy, more than just Bitcoin mining.

According to Buck, the logic is that the Bitcoin mining hub will use the excess energy from renewable energy generation facilities, while the main part of the electricity is for household consumption.

Bitcoin mining requires a series of complex computing processes that require a large amount of electricity.

Buck said that the two partners in the project are considering increasing its size about 100 times if trials prove that it works.

And this isn't the first mining project that relies entirely on renewable energy.

volcano mining

In El Salvador, where Bitcoin is currently an official currency, mining relies on a geothermal power plant via surrounding volcanoes.

Last year, dozens of companies united under the umbrella of the cryptocurrency climate agreement and pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030.

In November 2021, the President of El Salvador, Najib Bukila, stated that his country plans to build the first “Bitcoin City” in the world, in the eastern region of the municipality of “La Union”, and it will obtain geothermal energy from a volcano, and will not impose any taxes except for the value-added tax. .

The president estimated the cost of public infrastructure at around 300,000 BTC, noting that half of the value-added tax levied would be used to fund bonds issued to build the city, and the other half would be paid for services, such as waste collection.

He added that Bitcoin City will be round in shape, in the style of cities founded by Alexander the Great, with an airport and a central plaza designed to appear from the air as the embodiment of the Bitcoin symbol.

Bukila, a 40-year-old tech expert, said that for Bitcoin to spread around the world, some cities would be built in the style of Alexander the Great.