Comment by cdiddy2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cdiddy2 | Hacker News Reader

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This is not true. If you take a bitcoin miner and put it on a gas well that is leaking methane which is 10x worse than CO2 and burn that methane to create CO2 you are increasing energy usage and cleaning the environment. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-05-03/methan...

If you have already mined coal burning in a field and instead take that coal and put it through a generator and mine bitcoin with it you are using more energy and cleaning up emissions. https://www.wesa.fm/environment-energy/2022-01-31/how-waste-...

In a lot of places in the midwest up to 25% of wind or solar energy is priced at a negative level, this means they are paying to produce energy. Setting up a bitcoin miner is perfect because it can be quickly turned on/off and doesn't require consistent power like most manufacturing or other energy intense activities. This makes renewables more economical.

This goes into all of this as well. https://niccarter.info/wp-content/uploads/txsummit_nc_oct08....

The disconnect isn't that energy usage is bad, it's that many folks view bitcoin as a waste with no economic value.

Burned methane/negative priced reproducible energy/excess energy in general would be better spent on more valuable energy intensive pursuits such as desalinization, metal smelting, direct air carbon capture....

I agree with your point on economic value.

But on other uses of the energy you can't really do these things,

desalinization - in the middle of the country with no salt water plus inconsistent energy

metal smelting - doesn't work with rapid turning on/off

direct air carbon capture - doesn't work with rapid turning on/off

Bitcoin miners can be turned on/off quickly and don't require much infrastructure except an internet connection. How would you ever run a big plant with unpredictable times/days that it could actually run?

Exactly! Bitcoin incentive to NOT make it viable.

Instead of putting a Powerline there or building a smelter or something else, Bitcoin is easier and makes more money quicker.

This is not a good thing right now this is still bad. And as soon as you have Bitcoin mining there, no one wants to underutilize it because it is inefficient. Now your miner is motivated to run even more and get more money

Do you really believe a Bitcoin miner would accept being shut down for most of the day? Nope.

Do you really believe a Bitcoin miner would accept being shut down for most of the day? - yes, as the hardware cycles have slowed down this has become more and more viable to use old hardware some of the time.

Instead of putting a Powerline there or building a smelter or something else, Bitcoin is easier and makes more money quicker. - I assume there is already a powerline to any wind/solar farm. The issue is the negative priced electricity. If you can't compete with a bitcoin miner that is always seeking the cheapest electricity regardless of location then maybe your project isn't economically viable. Its not like miners have a monopoly, just agree to pay more than they are willing to pay

Of course it might not be economical viable.

Bitcoin is not the solution it's part of this problem because it's decoupled from that market.

It pushes into a market which is bound by different rules.

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