How to use the waste heat of Bitcoin miners?

How to use the waste heat of Bitcoin miners?

There is indeed a certain energy consumption problem in bitcoin mining. Still, it is gradually changing the total amount and efficiency of its energy use, trying not to affect the lives of residents as much as possible and trying to impact the environment positively. So, perhaps it can gradually change the market's perception of it. So, what other utility can be obtained from mining in addition to generating bitcoins?

In fact, miners are constantly exploring. Some miners have tried to combine Bitcoin mining heat production with heating and even expanded to commercial cooperation. As a result, they not only obtained Bitcoin but also gained thermal income and empowered traditional industries. This model redefines Bitcoin mining in an environmentally friendly direction by offsetting its carbon footprint with heat.

In theory, a device that consumes N watts of power will eventually generate N joules of heat per second. However, in real life, since there is a certain heat loss, here we assume that the thermal conversion rate of Bitcoin miners is 95%. For example, the Antminer S19 PRO has a hash rate of 100 T and a power consumption ratio of 29.5 W/T; for example, its miner power is 2,950 W, equivalent to a heater with a power consumption of 2802.5 W.

In British Columbia, where electricity costs 7.88 cents/kWh, it pays $5.30 per day for electricity, and for $23,000, it generates about $10.47 per day in mining revenue or $5.17 in net profit per day.

At this time, miners' daily thermal energy consumption is 67.26 kilowatt-hours (kWh), and taking the heating of a 100-square-meter office building as an example, the power consumption per day is about 60 kWh.

Home heating is affected by the seasonal temperature, and winter is most suitable when the temperature is more relaxed. But in addition to heating, Bitcoin miners can be used in any scenario that requires thermal energy, such as hot showers, greenhouse planting, drying wood, and more.

Let's look at the market's development in recent years.

2018 and before - "Wild Age"

At this time, the individual miners in the mining circle are exploring alone, and the heating method is relatively simple; that is, the miners are directly placed inside the greenhouse, and the heat generated by the miners during operation is combined with fans to form hot air. Heating the surrounding air is similar to traditional hot air heating.

Rahdi Fakhoury of Northern California uses two bitcoin miners and two Ethereum miners to heat his 1,650-square-foot house. When the outdoor temperature was -1°C, the room he was in was even a little hot, and he needed to open the window for ventilation. But, of course, the noise is also very loud, and it must be turned off in the summer to prevent overheating.

According to calculations, Fakhoury was making $60 a day from mining as the price of bitcoin soared to $11,000 while spending only $6 on electricity.

2018-2020 - "The Middle Ages"

After a short period of individual exploration, some companies felt they had discovered business opportunities and began to invest in producing "mining + heat" large-scale products or develop customized systems to make mining heating more efficient.

French startup XX sold miner heaters to construction companies and created an ever-expanding distributed data center. Based on Ethereum's current price, customers mine about $120 of Ethereum per month, which equates to 30 months of continuous heating before paying for itself, not including running costs. Unfortunately, the machine has now been discontinued.

In 2020, XX, a large-scale crypto mining company based in Sweden, connected the mine box to the greenhouse with a custom-made air duct system to recover the heat generated by the mining to heat the greenhouse for producing fruits and vegetables. Calculation prediction: If the project can increase the greenhouse's temperature from 25°C to 45°C, the size of the greenhouse can be tripled, which can also bring more benefits to the mining farm.

Beyond 2021 - "The Age of Enlightenment"

With the advancement of research and development, technologies such as chip manufacturing and product technology have advanced to a higher level. Enterprises have begun to try to heat a wider range of buildings and have also broadened their thinking and carried out new horizontal expansions.

In October 2021, Canadian bitcoin mining company XX will use bitcoin miners to heat houses instead of traditional natural gas, but there is no news yet. MintGreen will reportedly use its proprietary "digital boilers" to supply heat to 100 residential and commercial buildings. Their equipment will also prevent greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere by 20,000 metric tons per megawatt (one metric ton equals 1,000 kilograms).

A new application scenario also emerged at this time. In a small town 40 miles west of Oslo, Norway, a mining company used pipes to recycle the hot air emitted by Bitcoin air-cooled mining machines to dry wood wet by snow. According to reports, the library's temperature can reach 55 ℃ after heating.

It's just that the air-cooled mining farm was too noisy, and his neighbors complained about it, so he had to spend about 1.5 million pounds to soundproof.

And Bitcoin Bloem mines bitcoin and grows flowers in greenhouses in the Dutch province of North Brabant: it gets cheaper electricity, while farmers get heat to grow flowers. They argue that replacing polluting gas heaters with Bitcoin miners' heat can reduce greenhouse gas usage and improve the environment.

One day, if miners can genuinely break through technical problems and realize profitable large-scale "green" mining, it is believed that the mining industry will enter the following "prosperous era."