The future of mining in Canada and the Green-Mining movement
We have talked a lot about the basics of mining, disruptions to the mining payoffs and potential issues with centralized mining pools. Not too dissimilar to other blockchain markets such as ICOs or scaling solutions for major blockchains, mining is also at an innovative stage. Issues such as the environmental impact of large mining facilities are being complemented by the “green energy” movement.
Crypto-mining is getting out of control when considering the extensive use of energy required to solve these increasingly more difficult optimization problems. As the hash difficulty increases, the amount of energy required also increases. Proof of Work algorithms have proven to be expensive to verify — but that doesn’t mean companies are finding ways to cut the energy costs and cut the negative environmental impacts. The blockchain mining community is taking climate change dead seriously, and here are some energy sources they are interested in.
Solar/Wind/Geothermal Energy
Solar power has become a fascinating way to generate electricity without burning fossil fuels. The biggest problem in the past with solar technology were the costs associated with it. It used to be very expensive to install solar panels. An even more delicate issue was the storing of excess power for later use. Storage is still an issue and also presents environmentally unfriendly components. Solar is still on the rise in crypto-mining operations, however, the sun does not always shine brightly. In places where it does, a different energy-extensive problem is exposed and that is the cooling of mining rigs. Still, mining companies are using solar energy to power their mining operations.
Wind Power is also a familiar process of the green energy generation. Similar to solar power and the sun, wind power needs wind! Additionally, the wind turbines aren’t as efficient as one would hope to expect, and the longevity of the turbines are, to say the least quite sad. Technology changes will be expected in the future, but as of now, the wind is not the best form of renewable energy to utilize in mining operations.
Geothermal energy does not get a lot of attention in terms of energy generation, however, it is one of the better solutions that exist today! Geothermal is a great renewable source that can provide a steady and constant flow of energy. Exogenous factors such as sunlight or wind aren’t a prerequisite for energy production. The main issue with geothermal (besides the expensive initial costs) is that it is only prevalent in specific locations. The decentralized aspect that solar and wind provide is much greater than geothermal.
Hydro/Tidal
It goes without saying that Hydro-electric power has been a game changer for high output energy production. The energy production is constant and cheap to produce all else given. The main issue with hydro is that the start-up costs are high, and it is location specific. On top of that, there are environmental issues with ecosystem destruction, but those issues are minimizing more and more as technology increases.
An obvious issue with tidal energy is the location-specific aspect, and also high costs associated with entry. However, this is becoming a very attractive solution due to the large energy productive coasts and its inherent vastness. It is no secret that most of the world’s population live within reach of the oceans or large bodies of water, so why not use those tidal forces for good? Tidal energy is still somewhat of a new concept, but the grasp is enormous. This might be a major player as an energy provider to crypto-mining facilities.
Just a side note — one of the big problems with location-specific energy sources is the energy loss from long grid commutes. The energy that has to travel long distances to its destination will lose a lot of the efficiency, making it costlier to produce. Due to this, it seems that the utilization of multiple forms of green-energy sources is a primary option.
Where does Canada stand?
Canada is the second largest country based on land mass in the world. It has every form of energy-production mechanisms known in place. Canada also has the misfortune (fortunate in this aspect) of incredibly cold weather. As many already know, cooling your mining rig takes up a lot of the energy. Having a natural cooling source is an optimal solution. With that, certain provinces have multiple clean energy sources to provide to any mining operation.
It’s common knowledge in the crypto community that a lot of the mining operations occur in China — a country still undecided on the future of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain industry. Canada seems like a logical solution for mining, but the will of crypto-entrepreneurs needs to be there as well. It is a likely scenario that this movement does occur over the next several years contingent on a prosperous future for mining.
The future of crypto-mining is bright. It is also green. The culture in the blockchain community has made that very clear. Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of the cryptocurrency mining field that is scary (mining concentration, the emergence of PoS, etc.) but overall it is an optimistic sector in technology to get into.
As always, check out another massive innovation in mining, and that is what Abelian is doing with the decentralization of mining pools! Scroll through their website at abelian.tech and join their Telegram group https://t.me/abeliansolution to keep up to date!
