By
Godfrey Benjamin
April 9th, 2024
Despite these obvious negative contributions, some mining companies, though using coal to power their crypto mining operations, are helping the environment in a mutually beneficial setting.
The current strain in the global energy industry is coming off as an advantage for crypto miners, particularly in Europe and North America. Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, there has been a targeted attempt to wean the European continent from Russia’s energy including crude and gas, a sanction that fueled increment in these energy sources and creates only a few options to generate power, and that includes the use of coal.
Crypto miners have notably been under immense scrutiny over the years for their contributions to climate change. The past years have been notably used to shift base from high CO2 emitting energy sources to more conservative energy sources. However, with the current resurgence of coal, a lot of miners have seen the cheaper energy options to revive and power their Bitcoin mining operations.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2021 said the reliance on coal was at its peak, but per the current outlook, as noted by the body, the past year’s coal usage levels are billed to grow by at least 2% this year.
“When you’re trying to balance decarbonization and energy security, everyone knows which one wins: Keeping the lights on,” Steve Hulton, an executive at Rystad Energy told Bloomberg. “That’s what keeps people in power, and stops people from rioting in the streets.”
When it comes to crypto miners, it is generally believed that accessing power is bound to come at a cost, with which most critics say the environment bears the biggest burdens. In the case of Marathon Digital Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: MARA) which took over the Hardin generating station in Montana, US which was at the brink of shutting down, environmentalists have faulted the increased carbon emission from the plant since the crypto mining firm started utilizing the station for its mining purposes.
As reported by BeinCrypto, as much as 187,000 tons of carbon dioxide were added to the atmosphere in the 9 months of operations last year, a carbon emission that is 5,000% more than those emitted in 2020.
“This isn’t helping old ladies from freezing to death, it’s to enrich a few people while destroying our climate for all of us.” said a concerned citizen. “If you’re concerned about climate change you should have nothing to do with cryptocurrency, it’s a disaster for the climate.”
Crypto Miners Are Not All Bad Contributors
Despite these obvious negative contributions, some mining companies, though using coal to power their crypto mining operations, are helping the environment in a mutually beneficial setting.
A perfect example to showcase this is Stronghold Digital Mining Inc (NASDAQ: SDIG), an American Bitcoin mining firm that collects coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burnt coal, which it refines through industrial processes before channeling the energy to mine its cryptocurrencies.
Without the effort from Stronghold Digital Mining, this coal ash could have contaminated groundwater that can in turn cause a very pronounced health hazard amongst a wide range of people.