At first glance, one thing has nothing to do with the other. But the vision is good, it has everything to work with. Except for problems with the locals. However, there are those who are interested in using natural gas to mine Bitcoin.
Residents of Elk County, located in the heart of Pennsylvania, couldn't believe they would ever touch natural gas wells again. More so when this gas will be used to fuel bitcoin mining. The fact is that this story and parable are attracting the attention of many communities in different parts of the world.
Does Gas Cause Harm, Doesn't Bitcoin?
Confusion arose with the neighbors of Elk County. One The population is 31,000 people He suddenly found himself with a problem at hand. The reason has to do with Four natural gas wells located at Longhorn Pad C, a platform installed near a cemetery and a Methodist chapel. The field opened in 2011, but after lying dormant for years, it has been bought by a company that wants to use the wells for the remainder of its life.
Therein lies the problem. The use of these wells to extract gas causes inconvenience to both residents and regulators who have to monitor the facilities.
Diversified production uses these wells for an unconventional purpose: profiting from cryptocurrency mining. To achieve this, it has installed a noisy infrastructure that has already generated quite a few complaints from residents. Not just that. The company has applied for licenses required by the regulations but has not yet received them.
But what is the use of gas in cryptocurrency production?
The platform is owned by Diversified Energy Company, the parent company of Diversified Production, which has applied for a license to install engines and a generator for cryptocurrency mining. The aim is to use the mechanism in what is known as "wellhead mining", allowing for The cryptocurrency data center is powered by energy from the oil or gas field.
Actually, this is not an innovation. In early 2022, ConocoPhillips unveiled a pilot project in Bakken, North Dakota that was looking to harness the gas it generates during oil extraction for cryptocurrency. The initiative is simple and its basic philosophy is not much different from that of the Elk Project: to use gas, an unprofitable by-product to sell that will eventually be burned, to mine bitcoins.
By the way, “by-products” or items that generate some kind of energy, like volcanoes, are in other parts of the world to mine cryptocurrency, using geothermal energy.
Giga Energy Solutions is doing it, too, using gas from Texas oil fields to power the powerful computers used to mine cryptocurrencies.
This bill threatens to impede progress toward climate goals, including the goal of reducing society's greenhouse gas emissions by 26% below 2005 levels by 2025.
There is worldwide interest in this type of use
It is a fact that this topic has been closely followed in other parts of the world. The method has everything to work. And there is no shortage of other "mortal" infrastructures that could still be very useful. More so because they claim to be a method of mining with a smaller environmental footprint.
According to Diversified Energy Company, the goal is also to improve the management of oil and natural gas wells, from acquisition to retirement. Of course, there are dissenting voices. Some warn of the risk that the company will not be able to bear the costs of plugging the wells after the end of their useful life, and this may be very harmful to the environment.
Often the idea to follow is to re-energize unfit infrastructures for the upstream business, fueling the cryptocurrency business, given the large energy consumption required on large mining farms.
In cryptocurrency mining, nothing is lost, nothing is created, does everything change?
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