Possible exaggerations of bitcoin’s contribution to climate and environmental action could generate disappointment and be exploited by critics. There is a fair bit of excitement in bitcoin social media channels about powering bitcoin mining with fugitive/stranded methane to reduce emissions. Methane is after all one of the worst greenhouse gases, as its global warming potential (GWP) is more than 80 times higher than CO2’s over 100 years.

A discussion about putting a “sunset clause” to using stranded fossil gas to mine bitcoin. Premise Powering bitcoin mining with stranded fossil gas from abandoned oil and gas wells has a less negative impact on climate and the environment than simply flaring or venting that gas. …

Why volcano energy alone might not be the best fit for El Salvador’s President’s dream city. A version of this story was first published in Bitcoin Magazine. The creation of a Bitcoin City powered by “volcano energy” proposed by El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is appealing for many bitcoiners at an emotional, esthetic level. Envisioned in the shape of a perfect circle, like a coin, with…

TL;DR—If bitcoin mining and the power grid integrate into a single money-energy system, more frequent bitcoin difficulty adjustments might be in order. Bitcoin Mining as an Enabler of Decarbonization Far from being a liability for decarbonization, bitcoin mining can be a key ally of climate action and the growth of renewable energy. …

There is nothing in bitcoin the software, the network and the asset that preconditions it and its users to espouse “left” vs “right” politics, or progressive vs conservative, individualistic vs collectivistic positions. There is nothing in it necessarily leading to free markets vs planned economies or anarchic vs statist ways to shape social interactions. Based on its energy and mathematical foundations, bitcoin can be used effectively, i.e., consistently with the internal logic of each such orientation, and successfully in accordance with the underlying values of such different ideas and practices, regardless of people’s attempts to pigeonhole bitcoin under any particular ideological flag.

With the petrodollar fading, bitcoin and renewable energy can integrate in an Internet of networks — a new, more resilient, functionally unified energy/monetary system. What Is Energy? Energy is everything and in everything. Nothing exists without energy, which is the first principle of all other first (second, really) principles. So, what is energy? The best and simplest way to define energy is to describe it as work. And what is work? In physics, work means using a…

Stranded natural gas used to power bitcoin mining is a false solution in search of a real problem. This article explores the re­lationship between bitcoin and stranded natural gas, the bond that ties these two seemingly disparate entities — energy — and how different forms of energy impact bitcoin as sound money. We all need energy, and we all need money, but the way we har­ness the former and manage the latter both contribute to climate change. What might appear a match made in heaven between stranded natural gas and bitcoin mining is at best a marriage of convenience that will hurt the planet in the long run.

An energy efficiency specialist begs to differ —