How is the bitcoin mining initiative with solar energy

In May of this year, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, the maker of electric and semi-autonomous cars, announced that for environmental reasons, he would no longer accept Bitcoin cryptocurrency (BTC) as a form of payment.

Tesla has suspended vehicle purchases with BTC. We are concerned about the rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and trading, especially carbon emissions, which have the worst emissions of all fuels, ”Musk said in a message via Twitter.

So there are many energy needs to keep this cryptocurrency online on the blockchain. The activity is called mining.

According to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI), compiled by researchers at the University of Cambridge, the total energy consumed by the BTC mining process (or crypto mining) could reach 128 TWh (terawatt hours) this year. This is 0.6% of global electricity production or more than all consumption in the Netherlands.

In this sense, different companies are looking for ways to continue mining BTC, eliminating or reducing the carbon footprint. This is the example of Blockstream, a Canadian company focused on blockchain technology led by Adam Back.

On behalf of the company, they stress that they will develop and operate zero-emission BTC mining facilities, to minimize the environmental damage caused by BTC mining.

But they won’t do it alone. Blockstream this year announced a collaboration with Square, the financial services giant of Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter). Together, they plan to build a solar-powered open-source BTC mining facility at one of Canada’s mining sites in the United States.

As it stands, they plan to provide public transparency by sharing details of the economics of the project and the knowledge gained during the construction of a BTC mine powered by renewable energy. The project is designed to raise awareness and show how mining this cryptocurrency with renewable energies can help drive the transition to clean energy.

“Many mining operations around the world, including ours, already depend on renewable energy because it is the most cost effective energy available. With Square, we hope the open and transparent nature of the project will become a model that other companies can learn from, ”said Chris Cook, Chief Information Officer and Chief Mining Officer of Blockstream.

He continued, “We hope to show that a renewable real-world mining facility is not only possible, but also empirically demonstrates that Bitcoin is accelerating the world towards a sustainable future.”

The solar-powered mining project is also designed to be scalable, allowing Blockstream to add additional capacity and help more companies significantly expand their renewable mining operations in the future.

In addition to providing periodic reports on the economics of the project, Blockstream creates a freely accessible dashboard that displays real-time metrics of project performance, including power production and BTC mined.

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