Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Renewable Bitcoin Miner



In the arms-race of Bitcoin mining solutions one of the key performance indicators is the amount of Bitcoins per kWh of used electricity. This impacts both the environmental as well as the financial bottom-line. The electricity tariffs in Europe differ per country, but including taxes averages above the 20 Eurocents per kWh for residential consumers.

Last decade several technological and logistic breakthroughs resulted in wind turbines and solar panels that can produce electricity for an ever decreasing price. With the ongoing developments the coming years the renewable electricity price on windy or sunny locations will be lower than any conventional alternative.


The best locations for renewable energy production are generally very remote from the location where energy is consumed. Wind turbines produce most in the middle of the sea and solar panels are preferably deployed in the desert. In such cases the overall costs of the renewable energy is mainly determined by the costs of the physical grid connection.

Maybe the business case can be made for not connecting this remote renewable production to the grid at all, but to use the energy locally in a Bitcoin mining rig! On the one hand it would reduce the use of conventional energy on residential Bitcoin mining and on the other it will enable utilization of top renewable production locations, which are too remote for grid connection.

On another account, the first solar panel retailer is accepting Bitcoins as payment option: http://www.gogreensolar.com

Green Bitcoins?

Inge

(The electricity used by www.HappyCoins.nl is produced by wind and solar power)

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