How Crypto Miners Make the World Greener?

Story originally published on https://koop360.com/blog/how-crypto-miners-make-the-world-greener/

Currently, the HIVE blockchain’s (HIVE) 30-megawatt data center in Boden, Sweden, houses around 15000 crypto mining rigs which are basically a blend of hardware elements such as GPU, CPU, ASIC, or FPGA to execute cryptocurrency mining. At times, the facility comes down to assist the local network.

You’ve come to the correct site if you’re curious about how Crypto Miners Make the World Greener and want to learn more about it.

The data center, which receives energy from the local hydropower producers at a low cost, has become one leading active energy reserves in Sweden. The Swedish Grid can seek help from this reserve whenever the local power supply suffers from a major crisis. The team of miners is a steady source of money flow when public energy use is lower than average, but it can shut down the power at peak hours. The system can instantaneously power off its machines and divert the energy to public use.

The system can redirect the energies between 5 to 10 seconds. For this reason, the energy demand of HIVE’s mine has been an asset to the local electricity unit. The article will discuss how crypto miners make the world greener.

HIVE facility and local power supply grid are mutually advantageous for each other. It reflects the brighter aspect of crypto mining’s environmental consequences.

The media industry and its most celebrated critics and politicians consider the mining process cooking the Earth. For years, the miners’ tasks have been to fetch the fossil fuel plant from the twilight zone, which is only possible due to their indiscriminate, unquenchable thirst for cheap power. Therefore, BTC (Bitcoin) has been said to scarf down the world’s most valuable energy, and it is also responsible for a large number of carbon emissions.

According to Pete Howson, a senior lecturer of Geography and Environmental Science at the Northumbria University of the United Kingdom, one cannot justify the waste of energy. His opinion summarizes what the critics said.

Every year, BTC mining consumes 136 terawatt-hours on the international level, as estimated by the Cambridge University Centre for Alternative Finance. It is the same amount as electricity spent in Argentina, Sweden, and the United Arab Emirates. It is nearly half of the amounts that data centers operate for other purposes, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) puts it at 200–250 terawatt-hours.

European and American lawmakers have been in a conflict while inspecting the impact of BTC mining on our environment. Recently, proof-of-work mining leveraged by the BTC network meticulously dodged its demise at the European Union. Lawmakers decided to raise a proposal that could have stopped the proof-of-work mining process, but; they provided quotas for settlement which might have converted to various other methods which absorb less electricity, like proof-of-stake.

As a consequence of such criticisms, the BTC mining industry has redirected its view toward sustainable sources.

In a report by The New York Times, the approximate estimate says 40% to 75% of renewables lead the BTC mining. On the other side, in the official report, the crypto asset management firm explored that the renewables contributed less than 30% of the total energy ingested by the bitcoin network in December 2021. In addition, nuclear power has been responsible for 11% and natural gas for another 24% of the energy.

Though the carbon emission from mining activities has increased with the industry, on an overall basis, it has been relatively lesser than the megawatt-hours of electricity used and the computing energy produced. In the process of decarbonization, the crypto industry has more focused on its own business. Instead, it could have the power suppliers manufacture more sustainable energy which humankind can use.

The majority of miners find it more profitable to use renewable sourced electricity than fossil…