The city of North Vancouver in Canada is going to harness electricity through bitcoin mining to heat nearly all of its homes.
Bitcoin mining company MintGreen intends to start heating more than 100 houses, including residential ones, using innovative low-carbon energy. To this end, the company is planning to sign a contract with Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC). This is the award-winning district energy provider owned by the city of North Vancouver. Its main aim is to reduce the urban carbon footprints. "The LEC is on a decarbonization journey to implement more renewable and clean energy, transitioning from the use of conventional natural gas. LEC is continually exploring ways to use waste heat from buildings and industrial processes located adjacent to the district energy system, and switching to alternative and renewable fuels," the announcement reads.
Next year, the City and LEC plan to introduce a new, unusual source of heat - bitcoin mining to the centralized power supply system. MintGreen’s sustainable mining model excludes the release of harmful emissions produced by natural gas into the environment. This is why cooperation between LEC and MintGreen will help prevent the release of 20,000 tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
According to MintGreen, its digital boilers are designed to generate more than 96% of the electricity used for mining in the form of heat energy. Thus, the recovered energy is converted into thermal one to heat residents. It will also be used for industrial processes. MintGreen assures that the new energy source is highly reliable. Thus, any disruptions to the heating system are extremely unlikely. The company explains that crypto firms operate at full capacity all year round, offering an opportunity to provide clean heating solutions.
Notably, apart from MintGreen and LEC, there are other companies that are trying to reduce carbon emissions. For example, Great American Mining also offered oil producers to lower the harmful emissions by mining. It will enable oil producers not to waste energy when burning gas. Instead, they may use this energy to mine digital currencies.
