Renewable Energy Could be Encouraged by BTC Mining
2 min read
Fintech giant Square along with Ark Development are laying claim that BTC may encourage investment in renewable energy. Part of Square’s BTC Clean Energy Initiative, a research report, titled, “BTC Is Key To An Abundant, Clean Energy Future,” was released in hopes of backing BTC in its plight of sustainable mining.
This is an ongoing effort by Square to prove its support for companies working towards integrating renewable energy within BTC mining.
For years now, statistics have shown that BTC mining consumes more energy than small countries. Furthermore, many environmentalists argue that action needs to be taken about the amount of energy that BTC consumes. Square believes with this initiative, BTC miners will be encouraged to adopt solar and wind installations.
A research conducted by Cambridge University found that, for now, 39% of the BTC blockchain network comes from renewable energy. Meanwhile, some of the energy used is powered by coal. In fact, last weekend saw a coal mine in China’s, Xinjiang district flooded and shut down. Resulting in BTC’s hash rate to take a plunge to its lowest point since the end of last year.
Notably, Squares model suggests that without BTC mining, renewable energy can only satisfy 40% of the grid’s needs, but with BTC mining, solar energy and batteries, it can satisfy 99% of its demand.
“Our model demonstrates that integrated BTC mining could transfigure intermittent power resources into baseload-capable generation stations,” the section reads. “All else equal, with BTC mining, renewable energy could provision a large percentage of any locality’s power economically.”
Square believes this convergence of BTC and the energy markets will result in energy assets of today becoming the miners of tomorrow.
On the offset, if the concept does take off, this could drastically increase the demand for semiconductors, of which there is currently a shortage of supply. In return, this may replace productive uses for semiconductors.
Read more: Dubai’s First Blockchain-Backed Precious Metal Refinery
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