Solar Energy Mining: Can Bitcoin Mining be Sustainable?
Is Bitcoin sustainable?
One thing Bitcoin detractors often say is that Bitcoin is bad for the environment. This argument stems from the fact that mining Bitcoin require a large supply of electricity.
But now the question can also shift to: “Where does the electricity for Bitcoin mining come from?”
Most Bitcoin mining operations use electricity from fossil fuel generators. This is because most electricity grids in the world still rely on fossil fuel generators, which means one can say Bitcoin mining is bad for the environment, at least partially. However, it should also be noted that there is an ongoing push for renewable energy in mining.
Can you mine Bitcoin with solar power?
Can Bitcoin mining be sustainable? At the moment, the practice of solar energy for Bitcoin mining has started taking off. In Germany, which has one of the highest number of Bitcoin miners in the world, many independent miners have begun installing solar energy panels for their mining operations.
Renewable energy in Bitcoin mining can mean many of these miners have even been able to produce more electricity than they require for the mining. This is an exciting prospect not only for sustainable Bitcoin mining, but also for the entire crypto economy to start shifting towards sustainable cryptocurrency and of course, sustainable energy development overall.
But now the question can fall onto the next great dilemma: how to invest in solar energy? Maybe due to one reason or another, setting up a solar energy asset may not be feasible for just about everyone, let alone solar energy crypto mining.
Green cryptocurrency and Asset Tokenization
What is the most sustainable cryptocurrency? At the moment, the idea of a green energy crypto coin seems elusive and maybe even fantastical. It is hard to pinpoint which of the hundreds is the most sustainable cryptocurrency. But the cryptocurrency ecosystem is a frontier economy with many possible exciting developments, especially when it comes to renewable solar energy asset and sustainable development.
The first blockchain was created as the ledger for transactions of Bitcoin, but now there are hundreds of other blockchains that exist in the world, each of them keeping track of different cryptocurrencies’ transactions. Aside from just keeping track of cryptocurrencies transactions, blockchain technology can also be used to facilitate data processing and tokenization of real-world assets: this includes renewable energy certificates.
Traditionally, certain assets in the real world have been hard to access for investment by the masses. For example, certain infrastructure projects that would actually benefit societies, like solar energy assets, have not been able to be invested in by the same masses.
This is because the development of projects like that have had a very high bar of entry - in that the projects are costly. It often requires a very large amount of minimum investment and of course the fact that many of these projects are handled by centralized organisations that only grant access to investing in said projects to an exclusive, privileged few that they usually have pre-existing ties with already.
Blockchain technology is inherently one that is accessible to the public. The system was created to ensure that just about anyone who can access the blockchain and view its many transactions can also monitor and even access the assets tied to the blockchain. Aside from cryptocurrencies, other assets can and have been tokenized and put in blockchains for anyone to invest in as long as they have the access to do so.
Development of renewable energy assets through the use of energy asset certificates on the blockchain is the vision that Fasset strives to achieve. While sustainable crypto assets and the idea of green cryptocurrency are concepts that can be thrown around, we seek to provide equal access to things beyond green energy crypto coin or solar energy blockchain assets. We strive to enable everyday people to invest in renewable energy and break down the traditional barriers that have barred access to renewable energy development.
References
Giungato, Pasquale, Roberto Rana, Angela Tarabella, and Caterina Tricase. "Current trends in sustainability of bitcoins and related blockchain technology." Sustainability 9, no. 12 (2017): 2214.
Q. K. Nguyen, "Blockchain - A Financial Technology for Future Sustainable Development," 2016 3rd International Conference on Green Technology and Sustainable Development (GTSD), 2016, pp. 51-54, doi: 10.1109/GTSD.2016.22.
“Why Bitcoin May Actually Speed Up The Transition To Renewable Energy”
https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/why-bitcoin-may-actually-speed-up-the-transition-to-renewable-energy-2021-05-18
Sowmya Ramasubramaniam, “Bitcoin mining uses 56% green energy, mining council says”
https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/bitcoin-mining-uses-56-green-energy-mining-council-says/article35208061.ece
Shamika N. Sirimanne and Clovis Freire, UNCTAD ,”How blockchain can power sustainable development”
https://unctad.org/news/how-blockchain-can-power-sustainable-development
Cathy Mulligan, “Blockchain and Sustainable Growth”
https://www.un.org/en/un-chronicle/blockchain-and-sustainable-growth
Nathan Reiff, “Is Solar-Powered Cryptocurrency Mining the Next Big Thing?”
https://www.investopedia.com/news/solarpowered-cryptocurrency-mining-next-big-thing/
Daniel Frumkin, “Economics of Bitcoin Mining with Solar Energy”
https://braiins.com/blog/economics-bitcoin-mining-solar-energy