jwzNov 29, 2024
Because irony is dead, a Dutch tulip farmer is heating their greenhouse with Bitcoin mining: The servers in turn are powered by solar energy from the roof, reducing the normally huge electricity costs for mining, and cutting its...
https://jwz.org/b/ykdm
Show threadMartijn VosNov 30, 2024

Ironic, but honestly probably the best way to mine bitcoins. Those greenhouses apparently need to be heated for some reason, and that used to be powered by dirty energy. Powering it by solar panels is a lot better. But instead of simply throwing it through a heater, why not run a bunch of processors and let them do something useful? Or let them mine Bitcoin. They could be folding proteins or analyzing radio telescope signals instead, but the principle is sound.

Selling it back to the grid is apparently not an option, according to omroepbrabant.nl/nieuws/459627…

The linked article at jwz.org/blog/2024/11/bitcoin-t… seems to think carbon negative means turning CO2 into diamonds, but it's pretty obvious this setup is turning CO2 into tulips. Whether those are useful is another big question. If you believe in tulips and bitcoin, this is probably the best way to go about it. If you don't, it's an expensive waste of time and resources, but still carbon neutral. There are worse things in the world.

Met Bitcoins houdt Frank zijn magazijn warm: 'Fantastische ontwikkeling'

In het magazijn van ondernemer Frank uit Heeswijk-Dinther staan niet alleen spullen om deurklinken te leveren, maar ook een grote computer die Bitcoin-transacties verwerkt. Met deze computer houdt Frank zijn magazijn warm, waardoor hij minder gas hoeft te gebruiken. "Nu de koers van Bitcoin aan het stijgen is, is dit een fantastische ontwikkeling."

Omroep Brabant
Show threadGary HoustonNov 30, 2024
@mcv I don't really follow. If you removed the solar panels from the roof, more sunlight would get into the greenhouse and heat it directly. I'd say it would be a net gain, since solar panels are nowhere near 100% efficient.
Show threadMartijn VosNov 30, 2024

@ghouston

I'm no greenhouse expert, but I know they used to use a ton of fossil energy. I doubt they'd do that if it wasn't necessary, but if you have sources that say otherwise, I'll take your word for it.

Show threadGary HoustonNov 30, 2024
@mcv I'm not doubting that they use fossil energy, but adding solar panels that block the direct sunlight isn't gong to replace it. Just the opposite, if there's a net reduction in the amount of heating from the sun.
Show threadMartijn Vos
@ghouston Like I hinted at, without any sources confirming that that's what's going on, that's only a strawman. If it really was enough to just use direct sunlight, which is free, don't you think they would have been doing that already?
Nov 30, 2024 at 9:56pmWeb
Show threadGary HoustonNov 30, 2024
@mcv yeah, the article that ednl linked below doesn't even mention solar panels. With an external source of electricity, or solar panels situated somewhere where they don't block the light getting in to the greenhouse, it's not automatically a dead end.