You might have only heard about Bitcoin mining having a huge negative impact on climate. A recent study warned that Bitcoin could push global warming beyond 2°C, which is alarming. Even Elon Musk suspended Tesla sales using Bitcoin earlier this year due to climate change concerns. However, the City of North Vancouver has found a clever way to offset the impact of the energy-intensive business of Bitcoin mining. The Canadian city plans to be the first city in the world to recover energy from crypto mining and provide heat to buildings. Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC), the award-winning district energy utility wholly owned by the city, has taken up the challenge to decarbonize the energy needs of North Vancouver. It has partnered with Canada-based cleantech cryptocurrency miner MintGreen to use their proprietary Digital Boilers in the district energy system.
The Digital Boilers are capable of recovering more than 96% of the electricity used for bitcoin mining in the form of heat energy that can be efficiently channelized into offering heat to communities and service industrial processes. Lonsdale Energy Corporation CEO, Karsten Veng, said: “Being partners with MintGreen on this project is very exciting for LEC, in that it’s an innovative and cost competitive project, and it reinforces the journey LEC is on to support the City’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.”
Two years back, a motion was passed by the City of North Vancouver Council to increase its greenhouse gas reduction targets to achieve net zero by 2050, and reduce emissions by 80% below 2007 levels by 2040. According to official estimates, the use of Bitcoin heating will prevent 20,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per megawatt from entering the atmosphere and serve 100 residential and commercial buildings. The complex issue of climate change requires innovative solutions, and LEC, with the City of North Vancouver, is showing tremendous leadership in environmental stewardship,” said MintGreen CEO, Colin Sullivan.
[Via: Techcouver]
