This Company Is Making Bitcoin Mining Net Zero

2 min read

China, Bangladesh, Egypt Iraq, Morocco, Nepal, Qatar, and New York. These are the regions where Bitcoin mining is illegal. This is due to several reasons including high electricity use, lack of actual value produced, and the largest of them all, pollution. Bitcoin mining is said to be responsible for 0.1% of the world’s carbon emissions. This might not seem like much, but it is roughly the same as global logistics giant, Maersk.

With the pressure for companies around the world to meet ESG standards growing, it is timely that Texas based company, Lancium, has begun developing a way to make Bitcoin mining carbon neutral. Co-founder and CEO of Lancium, Michael McNamara, said this of how the company started: “So the idea was ‘Could we rethink a data centre and move them not to where the users are but where the energy is?’” For this, the company decided to use a region known as the US “wind belt” – the part of the country with the best wind conditions. This region runs from North Dakota, in the centre of the country, 1 956.96 km down to Texas in the south. They also decided to use the “sun belt” – the part of the country with optimal sun exposure. This region runs from California in the west all the way to Florida in the southeast of the country, 4 897.23 km away. These two regions converge in west Texas, where you have the most favourable wind conditions and the most optimal sunlight.

Lancium then came up with the idea to move Bitcoin mining data centres out of the city and into this region, which is near renewable energy plants. The data centres will consume electricity (to mine Bitcoin) when there is an abundance of wind and solar energy (when supply exceeds demand), making electricity cheap, and turn the consumption of the data centres down or off completely when there is a deficit of wind and solar energy.

The company’s Enigma21 Mine in Pyote, Texas has around 30 MW of Bitcoin mining taking place on any given day. The facility monitors the grid frequency in real-time, allowing the Bitcoin mining facility to respond within 16 seconds of the grid experiencing a brownout, which will prevent the grid from destabilising. The facility can then automatically turn its consumption back up once the grid stabilises. This smart technology with immediate responses also helps to stabilise electricity prices.

One of the components that takes up the most electricity in Bitcoin mining is the fans. This is to keep the mining rigs from overheating. Lancium uses a liquid solution called dielectric fluid, that keeps the mining rigs cool while also cleaning them. This saves electricity that would be used to cool the rigs.

Lancium’s power solutions have also attracted companies in the AI & HPC, green fuel production, and electricity supply industries. They also develop carbon neutral cloud computing technology.

What do you think of Lancium’s green Bitcoin mining endeavours? Are they beneficial to the world or a waste of money and technology? Share your thoughts by replying to this email!

For more information on green Bitcoin mining, or any other energy related articles, view the blog posts on my website and be sure to open my weekly emails every Tuesday at 9AM CAT.

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