North Vancouver making strides to become world’s first city heated by Bitcoin
In recent times, mining companies have been exploring ways to recover and repurpose the waste heat produced during Bitcoin (BTC) mining. Interestingly, the city of North Vancouver plans to be the first city in the world to use the waste energy from crypto mining to heat up buildings.
Canada-based cleantech cryptocurrency miner MintGreen is teaming up with the Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC) in the initiative to supply heat to residents of North Vancouver starting in 2022.
The partnership with LEC was announced by MintGreen on Thursday, October 14. Colin Sullivan, the CEO of MintGreen, said that the aim of the partnership is to address issues related to climate change. According to MintGreen, over 96% of the electricity used for Bitcoin mining in the form of heat energy is recovered from its Digital Boilers, with further comments suggesting that the energy can also be used to heat communities and service industrial processes.
The arrangement would ensure that 20,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases per megawatt will be prevented from entering the atmosphere. This will be used to heat 100 residential and commercial buildings with an estimated population of 155,000.
Prior records show that Bitcoin miners run at full capacity every day of the year, creating the perfect opportunity to provide a consistent and clean heating source for North Vancouver’s district energy grid.
Karsten Veng, the CEO of Lonsdale Energy Corporation also commented on the partnership, stating that:
Being partners with MintGreen on this project is very exciting for LEC, in that it’s an innovative and cost-competitive project, and it reinforces the journey LEC is on to support the city’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets.
He believes that the launch will be a catalyst that will create room for expansion as the city continues to grow.
MintGreen is employing the next generation of green mining technology, with a mining model that uses energy twice, to mine Bitcoin and then provide zero-carbon industrial heating.
Meanwhile, this isn’t the first initiative that MintGreen has employed in an innovative heat recovery application. The company sells heat waste generated from Bitcoin mining to the Vancouver Island Sea Salt facility to boil water and distill salt flakes.
Another site at the Shelter Point Distillery uses heat from mining to make whisky via the mash process.
