One of the largest bitcoin mining operations in the world, Genesis Mining, has been working on an experiment with Systemair, Lulea Technical University, Swedish Research Institute, and the local municipality of Boden. The teams in Sweden are developing a system that converts excess heat from Genesis bitcoin mining to power greenhouse operations.
Bitcoin mining is highly competitive and the network uses a lot of electricity to secure transactions and coin new coins. For example, the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI) shows that Bitcoin hashrate (BTC) uses an estimated 12.54GW and an annual usage level of around 88.14TWh. Out of 20 mining pools, there are a staggering 150 exahash per second (EH / s) pointed to the BTC chain.
This week, Genesis Mining unveiled an innovative new project that the company is working on with a few teams. Genesis has been working in Boden, Sweden, a large region located around the coastal city of Lulea with four groups. Systemair, the local borough of Boden, the Lulea Technical University, and the Swedish Research Institute in partnership with Genesis have been developing a system that converts excess mining heat into greenhouse power. The pilot aims to recycle excess energy from bitcoin mining to sustainable heat sources.
According to participants, the pilot intends to address supporting Sweden’s objective towards self-sustaining food production. The study is being promoted by the humanitarian arm of Genesis Mining called “Hashpower For Science.” Mattias Vesterlund, Senior Researcher at RISE (Swedish Research Institutes) explained how the project can achieve self-sustaining production models.
“A 1 MW datacenter would have the ability to strengthen local self-sufficiency by up to 8% with products that are competitive on the market,” Vesterlund detailed. Genesis Mining’s dedicated crypto mining storage containers will be located near the greenhouse. The container is connected to the greenhouse by using a custom built air duct system that carries the excess heat of the miner.
Marco Streng, cofounder and CEO of Genesis Mining, said devolved applications will transform the world, “but not all of those benefits can come at the cost of the environment.” “Genesis Mining has always favored locations that offered 100% renewable energy sources, that’s why we’ve focused so much on the Nordics,” Streng detailed. But as an industry leader, we regard it as our moral and ethical responsibility to push the industry forward, and finding a way to convert our excess energy has been a major priority. ”
Streng further added:
We are looking forward to scaling this project and bringing it not only to more of our own datacenters – but to others as well.
Senior Lecturer from Lulea Technical University, Andreas Johansson, has been doing calculations based on the project design and Sweden’s cold climate.
“For the cold climate of northern Sweden, our calculations show that a 300 m2 greenhouse can easily be heated with a 550 kW capacitor, even with outdoor temperatures reaching almost -30 ℃,” said the lecturer . But the potential is much greater than that. The temperature difference over the greenhouse in this calculation is only 10 degrees since we assume a DC output temp of 35 ℃ and a GH temperature of 25 ℃. If the DC output is increased to 55 ℃, then the GH area can be tripled to 900 m2. “
Genesis and the teams in Sweden aren’t the only people who have thought of leveraging excessive heat from bitcoin miners. Two years ago a French company called Qarnot released a home heater called “Crypto-Heater or QC-1” that heats a room in your home while the user is digging up crypto assets.
Some people have devised ways to use excessive mining heat to do certain things like warm a garage or distill alcoholic beverages. Ethereum miners have been used to heat homes and a few Russian babushkas not only dug BTC in the state of Siberia but also used the miners for heating. Bitcoin miners have used excessive mining heat to grow tomatoes.
Genesis Mining and project members also hosted a webinar about developing the hybrid bitcoin mining greenhouse system. News.Bitcoin.com readers can check out the video from the webinar below.
What do you think of Genesis Mining working in Sweden to develop a greenhouse powered by excessive bitcoin mining heat? Let us know what you think of this topic in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Genesis Mining,
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