One of the things that make cryptocurrencies interesting is the fact that it doesn’t need a central bank in order to confirm transactions. Instead, you have miners that solve the algorithms to confirm a transaction to be valid. However, mining is a topic that can be debatable within the industry.
Crypto mining is an energy-intensive activity that requires powerful computers and a large amount of electricity. In fact, there is even a study saying that the energy used for Bitcoin mining can already power an entire country.
Uses As Much Energy As Ireland and Austria
Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism in order to secure the transactions has been known for consuming a large amount of energy. According to Digiconomist, the crypto mining operation worldwide makes use of approximately 71 terawatt hours (TWh) per year. To put things into perspective how this is a serious problem, that is equivalent to 10% of China’s annual energy consumption. It is also enough to power the entire Ireland and Austria.
Soluna’s Effort to Run a Green Crypto Mining Operation
Soluna is a computing company that has been trying to solve the current situation in the crypto mining industry. Its answer is to make use of renewable energy in order to power its systems. Instead of using fossil fuel, the company aims to build a wind-powered blockchain computing infrastructure in the middle of the Sahara desert.
This is the main reason why countries have banned crypto mining activities. Aside from the fact that mining activity is an energy hog, it can also affect residents within an area.
Today, cryptocurrency mining companies look for places such as Canada to lessen the cost of their activities. In fact, when Quebec opened its doors for crypto applicants, it has been flooded mainly by Chinese crypto miners.
Considering the environmental impact of the activity, many are looking for ways on how to minimize carbon footprint. Soluna plans to develop a 900 MW wind farm that will be located in Morocco. This will be combined with the private computing facilities that will ultimately facilitate to run the entire facility in a green manner.
By 2020, Soluna aims to develop 36 megawatts and intend to complete the 900 MW target in the next five years or so. Also, the company is looking to integrate the blockchain ecosystem vertically as it focuses on renewable energy power plants.
John Belizaire who is the CEO of the company said that it is his vision to power the “blockchain with clean” and “renewable energy” that Soluna “own and control”. He also added that “Soluna will address the growing demand for energy to power today’s growing blockchain networks, and will create the world’s first “service node,” providing high-density computing for future blockchain networks”.
This can be a great move by the company considering that many crypto mining operations are suffering from losses not only because of the bearish market but also by the energy cost of the entire crypto mining operations. Soluna aims to meet the “evolving demands” of the ecosystem with a renewable energy that is also “compliant with the local regulations”.
