TL;DR
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There’s this company called Nodal Power which has just secured a cool $13M in funding to: convert methane into electricity, and use that electricity to mine BTC.
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Methane breaks down faster than CO2 – which means it’s mostly gone from the atmosphere after a decade.
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The best way to cut down on global warming when mining BTC is to power the Bitcoin network with clean renewable energy. That’s way easier said than done! But it’ll happen eventually (it’s the most cost effective in the long run).
Full Story
Up-bup-bup!
Take your fingers off the keyboard.
Hit pause on your angry response for a second.
That headline needs some context to really make sense.
There’s this company called Nodal Power which has just secured a cool $13M in funding to (get this!):
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Collect methane gas produced by landfills
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Convert said methane into electricity
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Sell some of it to energy companies
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Use the rest to mine bitcoin
Here’s what’s cool about this:
This isn’t just a concept, it’s already happening – Nodal Power didn’t cop 13 mil to create the system, but to expand it.
And apparently, combusting excess methane to produce power in a generator actually results in lower carbon emissions than if it were to be simply burnt off in the open air.
Plus, methane is 25x more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide – so this process opts for the lesser of the two ‘global warming evils.’
Here’s what’s not-so-cool about this:
Methane breaks down faster than CO2 – which means it’s mostly gone from the atmosphere after a decade.
But carbon dioxide has the wherewithal to contribute to global warming for hundreds of years.
…which means this solution is essentially trading short term gains, for longer term pain.
So what’s the solution – how can we have our Bitcoin cake, and eat it too?
Power the Bitcoin network with clean renewable energy.
That’s way easier said than done! But it’ll happen eventually (it’s the most cost effective in the long run).
In the meantime, landfill farts will have to do.
