Today I wrote a directional part of a longer article to be published in German later this year. Please let me know what other direction you would like me to highlight:
“Banks collapse, but the currency will live on. A currency only collapses when the trust in it is eroded. Currently people don’t trust bitcoin. Bitcoin is polluting our planet. That’s what people think. So how do we counter this thought directly?
Bitcoin mining is positive for the environment and ensures cheap electricity for everyone. And it’s not just because fiat money pollutes and bitcoin reduces pollution. It’s not just that every euro in bitcoin is otherwise spent to pollute more. Bitcoin mining by itself is ensuring a better environment.
Miners are searching for the cheapest electricity across the globe. Cheapest electricity can always be found where it is in excess. In these locations there are mostly two reasons excess energy is available. Either an energy source is already being used to generate electricity but not used to its full potential or there is potential long term untapped abundant energy resources available that haven’t found sufficient demand yet.
Because we are positioned in the EU and demand for cheap electricity is almost everywhere we shall focus on the first reason. In Europe currently there is no sufficient cheap electricity available. Due to natural gas deliveries being made impossible. Because of this, build out of renewable generation and nuclear is sped up in multiple locations across the continent. The countries where renewable energy is now being propelled, excess unstable energy will become abundantly available. If we think we can consume this excess flexibly easily, you haven’t studied physics. The grid that has the highest percentage of renewable generation on our planet is situated in Texas. To balance the grid they are already using miners.
In Europe this will move into a similar direction, the difference is: we would still be able to capture the heat that is produced.
Heat is important during our winter, if we are able to capture the heat produced by miners we could facilitate the ultimate solution.
Currently we are heating business and greenhouses with excess energy in the Netherlands. The miners blow heat directly into the greenhouse or business. The greenhouse needs heat 365 days per year, half of the year for growing, the other half of the year for drying tulip bulbs.
For the other locations the heat can’t be used year round. But the peak of overcapacity in their renewable generation is not during the time the heat is needed.
The next logical step is using geothermal capture in combination with bitcoin mining. Miners use the excess renewable generation and heat is stored to be used when we need it.
For now we keep businesses warm and grow plants in greenhouses, but for the future you would like to use heat capture technology.
In the Netherlands using bitcoin is already the best thing you can do for the environment. When we have locations that capture heat we can further optimize our energy expenditure.
When this is efficiently working, renewable projects can more easily be built. Current grid capacity is not able to deal with high peaks. Being able to tune frequency or even stop mining when there is no sun or wind would make many projects complete. In combination with geothermal heat capture the opportunities are endless. Not just growing food in greenhouses year round. But also heating up a citadel that is self sufficient and literally living on a bitcoin standard. “
