Company aims to help 'revolutionize' bitcoin mining: 'Not just beneficial ... essential'

A booming cryptocurrency market is exciting investors while raising fears over its massive energy consumption, which threatens to destabilize electrical grids and raise electricity prices without the right balance of energy usage. However, as detailed by Green Prophet, negative consequences aren't "inevitable." 

Bitzero is among an increasing number of crypto companies aiming to improve the reputation of cryptocurrency mining with "future-ready data centers." According to the company's website, Bitzero's Norway facility depends entirely on hydropower, a type of clean energy the International Energy Agency says accounts for 92% of the Scandinavian country's electricity system. 

Running an energy-hungry data center on a renewable source rather than a highly polluting dirty fuel helps reduce cryptocurrency mining's troublesome environmental impact. 

Bitzero is one company leveling up this concept by zeroing in on an often-overlooked element. Cryptocurrency mining — or the process of validating transactions — requires an enormous computational effort, and that generates a significant amount of heat, per Green Prophet. 

Instead of letting that energy go to waste, Bitzero harnesses it. This is not a novel concept, as other companies have found ways to leverage waste heat, such as pools and bathhouses that heat their water with crypto mining operations, but it is among the largest efforts to draw from renewable energy in the first place. In Norway, where some regions don't experience a full sunrise for months, Bitzero is capturing and redirecting data center heat into agricultural greenhouses.

This not only ensures crops have what they need during frigid winter months but also boosts energy efficiency during mining operations and eliminates some of the strain on cooling systems, thus reducing the risk of complications for the wider community's electrical grid. 

Bitzero also operates a facility with similar renewable goals in North Dakota, which, according to its website, uses some natural gas as part of a "diversified energy mix including wind, natural gas, and grid sources, ensuring reliability and efficiency." 

Ultimately, as many mining organizations still rely purely on the grid or their own dedicated fossil fuel power without mitigating efforts, the cryptocurrency sector has more ground to cover to reduce its potential for harm. 

And Bitzero has had its own share of controversy, as its former CEO, Akbar Shamji, reportedly was asked to step down in possible connection with the preparation of a 2024 New Yorker article about police questioning in a 2019 London death, for which no charges have been filed. 

However, the industry has had an increasing number of more positive and greener developments in recent years. 

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For instance, cryptocurrency network Ethereum's streamlined validation system has slashed energy consumption by more than 99%. The emerging cryptocurrency XRP's consensus mechanism eliminates the need for mining, resulting in minimal energy consumption, which is then offset by the developer's investment in renewables. 

More directly, other bitcoin operations have teamed up with greenhouse farmers, such as Bitcoin Brabant's partnership in 2022 with a Dutch farmer who said his livelihood was at risk until making the deal, replacing the need to heat his greenhouse with gas.

"As more companies adopt similar innovative approaches, the potential to revolutionize agricultural heating practices becomes increasingly significant," wrote Bhok Thompson for Green Prophet. 

"As the world grapples with issues like climate change, resource depletion, and environmental degradation, the need for creative and effective strategies such as these has never been more urgent. Technologies that repurpose waste, enhance energy efficiency, or reduce carbon footprints are not just beneficial; they are essential for the long-term health of our planet," Thompson added. 

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