Bitcoin has come a long way from being one of the major contributors to pollution to a key driver of positive climate action.
According to a recent report, BTC mining has become more environmentally friendly, with over 50% of its power supply coming from renewable energy. This includes solar, wind, and hydroelectric.
However, the green Bitcoin mining shift has become positively impactful for renewable energy solution firms, cities, and even the environment.
The report by analyst Daniel Batten established that BTC mining now addresses renewable energy bottlenecks.
In most cases, excess solar, hydro, or wind energy is queued before being connected to the main electricity grid. This led to wasted energy and high curtailment fees in Texas and Ethiopia.
Additionally, it could take over 8 years for solar or wind firms to break even and turn a profit. Now, BTC mining has reduced the grid connection queues and slashed the profitability period from 8 years to 3.5 years.
The shortened profitability period has attracted new large players who are now putting their previously wasted energy to use via BTC mining.
“Germany’s largest Telco, Deutsche Telekom, and Japan’s largest Utility, Tepco, to start utilizing Bitcoin mining for their previously wasted renewable energy.”
Pubic house heating has also benefited from BTC mining. For example, MARA’s heat supply from its BTC mining operations serves 80,000 residents in Finland or 2% of the country’s population. According to the report, this has enabled Finland to replace fossil-based (gas) heat on a large scale.
Besides, some mining companies are pushing for nature conservation efforts such as anti-poaching activity in Congo’s Virunga National Park. Others like Africa-based miner Gridless Compute have electrified over 8,000 homes on the continent from its excess power.
As such, Batten discredited the continued criticism of BTC mining by policymakers and NGOs as being net negative to the environment.
“Bitcoin mining is no longer a hypothetical solution -it is already resolving the grid instability issues at scale that accompany higher concentrations of solar/wind energy, electrifying parts of rural Africa, and funding climatech breakthroughs.”
BTC mining is currently the 23rd largest electricity-consuming activity in the world. However, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions or top polluting countries, BTC is ranked 59th.
