Recent data reveals Bitcoin mining is now the most sustainable global industry, transforming perceptions of the world's most well-known digital asset into a green energy darling
Once seen as the scourge of the sustainability movement; the villain of environmentalism, Bitcoin is fast becoming a much-desired fixture of ESG investment circles, where investments are selected for their adherence to environmental, social, and governance attributes.
The change in the perception of Bitcoin from being an energy-intensive drain on the environment to becoming an environmentally friendly global industry is overwhelmingly thanks to the advances made in Bitcoin mining in the past few years.
Whereas once the majority of Bitcoin mining was reliant on coal as its main energy source, the number one source of energy used in Bitcoin mining is now hydroelectric.
In fact, the Bitcoin mining industry has converted so much of its energy usage to green energy sources that it is now the most sustainable global industry in the world. Yes, Bitcoin now uses more green sources of energy than the banking sector, agriculture, and the industrial sector.
Bitcoin's Transformation Driven by Mining Innovation
The changeover from fossil fuels to hydroelectric and other green sources of energy was driven by a wave of innovation which saw mining companies make the most out of practical realities of how global power grids produce and distribute energy.
For example, Bitcoin mining naturally creates a new market for renewable energy. Because the Bitcoin network runs 24/7, every day of the year, it can make use of excess renewable energy sources that can't be sold an occurrence that's increasingly common among producers of wind, hydro, solar, and other renewable energy sources.
Bitcoin mining helps stabilise power grids during times of excess power consumption by absorbing excess power, and vice versa; mining facilities can curtail their consumption during power shortages and release it back into the grid.
Bitcoin mining firms have come up with other novel ways to make the most out of renewable energy sources, such as Green Mining DAO, the world's first green-energy Bitcoin mining DAO.
Mining Industry's Unique Use of Renewable Energy Sources
Green Mining DAO only mines Bitcoin when the local grid at its facility in Paraguay has excess power, ensuring none of its hydroelectric energy goes to waste. The team is in the process of opening another facility and is expected to double its hashrate, having already doubled its hashrate in its first year of operation.
The organisation is doing its part for local food markets at its facilities in Paraguay by re-using the heat generated from its mining operations to dry fruit. It also plans to cultivate algae. The DAO is also embarking on a mission for its upcoming "Bitcoin Mango" scheme, which will help clean up the streets in local Asuncion. Every year the streets overflow with mangoes that have no market for export or sale.
Thanks to its unique use of sustainable energy, Green Mining DAO produced each BTC in 2022 for an average cost of $15,214, some 36% below the global average. The firm doesn't just sell mining contracts but offers shares in the company as a whole, and every shareholder can make their voice heard in votes and propositions as a member of the DAO. The firm has paid out over 1 BTC in dividends to its DAO members already.
Bitcoin's green transformation is being fuelled in part by the demand by ESG investors who have been putting their money where their mouth is and backing emergent startups like Green Mining DAO, and in doing so are incentivising the creation of novel uses of renewable energy.
