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Explained: What is sustainable Bitcoin mining?
“Bitcoin uses more renewable energy than any other industry in the world,” said Beau Turner of Abundant Mines in an interview.
“More than half of the network is using some type of renewable energy. And increasingly, the Bitcoin network uses energy that would otherwise go to waste.”
Turner explained that the common criticism about Bitcoin’s energy use stems from misunderstanding. “People believe that Bitcoin uses a lot of energy because they’re comparing it to not using energy at all,” he said.
But, he added, “Bitcoin only uses a rounding error worth of global energy, and yet it provides access to financial sovereignty in places around the world that we take for granted in the developed world.”
What makes mining sustainable
For Turner, sustainable mining means more than running on clean energy. “It means finding the places where you can mine where you have a net positive impact,” he said.
That includes “using more sustainable energy sources and focusing on regions that have abundant hydropower” — as well as making mining “a sustainable part of a community’s economic plan.”
Miners can also help renewable projects thrive in remote regions. “Even in places where all you have is a Starlink dish and a solar panel or a wind turbine that isn’t generating power all the time, a miner can still make use of that,” Turner said.
How miners balance the grid
“Grid balancing is just matching the supply of energy with the demand for energy,” Turner explained. If supply and demand fall out of sync, “the grid experiences brownouts.”
Miners help stabilize that system by adjusting their energy use. “When you’ve got an oversupply of energy, instead of needing to turn off a wind turbine, you can power up a miner to soak up that excess,” he said.
“Conversely, if you’ve got a drop in energy if you have enough mining on the grid to actually go off at the same time, then you don’t experience any interruption.”
He compared miners to a “shock absorber” for the grid — one that adds flexibility and reduces waste.
Hydropower and the Pacific Northwest
In the U.S., the Columbia River basin plays a major role. “The Columbia River is home to 31 federal hydropower dams and over 22,000 megawatts of generation,” Turner said. “It’s the region that we and a few other mining companies call home.”
He described hydropower as “one of the most stable and long-term sources of power generation,” and said that Bitcoin miners help balance its seasonal fluctuations.
“When they produce too much, instead of spilling that water over the dam, we actually pay for that energy and put it to use. When there’s low flow or a season of high demand, the miners can actually curtail.”
Turner said Abundant Mines spreads its operations across multiple communities — a model he calls “grid-scale acupuncture.” Rather than concentrating one massive site in a single town, “we can have an impact across many different channels of people living across the Northwest.”
Lessons for beginners
Turner believes mining offers both financial and educational value. “Mining is my favorite way to teach people about finance, energy and technology,” he said.
He encourages new miners to stay curious: “If you allow something like Bitcoin mining to teach you, you’ll be led to the questions that help you become a better investor.”
Ultimately, he said, “You can have a meaningful impact on people’s lives simply by choosing to buy and operate a computer in Oregon. That, to me, is a win-win situation for everybody.”
This article has been published in thestreet.com via Yahoo News.
