The energy that the power plant produces is enough to keep 1,800 Bitcoin miners active. Stronghold Digital Mining said it had salvaged land contaminated with coal to produce fertilizer from the ash obtained.
Stronghold Digital Mining company uses a power plant to supply power to its Bitcoin mining farm. They use the waste that results from exploiting coal in Pennsylvania State, in the United States.
Since coal is an accessible and reusable material, Stronghold Digital Mining takes advantage of Bitcoin mining.
Currently, the energy that the company produces is enough to keep 1,800 Bitcoin miners active. A power plant that they acquired in the town of Scrubgrass can generate 85MW.
The company said they hope to increase their energy production to power more than 20,000 miners in 2022. They want to buy another plant in Pennsylvania to add another 80MW to their generation capacity.
Bitcoin Mining Through Coal Energy is Eco-Friendly
Many environmentalists consider that Bitcoin and coal have nothing to do with the term eco-friendly. Many critics against mining cryptocurrencies and minerals such as coal argue for their negative environmental impact. However, some people have put forward arguments in favor of these practices.
There are many ways of using Bitcoin mining to reduce its environmental footprint. Mining equipment can contribute to the heating of homes and greenhouses, the production of sea salt, and the distillation of spirits. Furthermore, various studies reveal that carbon emissions due to Bitcoin mining in 2020 were just 0.01%.
Coal mining usually affects the ecosystem, but it is only possible to reinforce practices to reduce its impact.
In the case of Stronghold Digital Mining, they use the waste from coal mining to generate energy. Otherwise, those wastes would remain in large areas of land where they would affect the environment.
The mining company said it had salvaged more than 1,000 acres of land where there was coal residue. They noted that Pennsylvania has more than 8,500 acres covered in waste coal.
Deciding Between Stacking Coal Waste or Burning It in a Controlled Way
Waste carbon piled up on the ground prevents plants from blooming and seeps into nearby water sources. In addition, that substance is flammable, and its uncontrolled burning releases harmful chemicals into the air.
Stronghold Digital Mining stated that the recovery of previously contaminated land is positive. They explained that burning the waste coal makes it possible to obtain a type of ash usable as fertilizer. They alleged that that product had benefited the salvaged land, favoring the greening of those spaces.
The company burns the collected coal to obtain electrical energy that it uses for Bitcoin mining. That causes the emission of gases unfavorable to the atmosphere, which leads to wondering whether that procedure is good for the environment.
According to environmental organization Greenpeace, electricity generation and transport are the main sectors that emit air pollution. They claim that the burning of fossil fuels causes around 4.5 million deaths around the world.
By Alexander Salazar
