With methane emissions in the spotlight as a challenge for climate change bitcoin mining could enable rapid scaling of mitigation, researchers suggest.
In a new investigation, researchers from bitcoin offence Satoshi Action, renewable company Nodal Power and methane mitigation investor CH4 Capital, outline a model framework linking landfill gas-to-energy systems to bitcoin mining.
Under the plan, methane in the form of landfill gas, which is otherwise typically flared or vented, is captured from the landfills, converted into electricity and then channelled into bitcoin mining.
In this way the methane emissions would be both mitigated and monetised, comment the researchers.
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“This integration not only proposes a method to enhance landfill sustainability but also introduces a potential economic boost for landfill operations currently venting or flaring methane, offering them an alternative revenue source through the global bitcoin market,” state the researchers in their publication.
Such an approach is particularly pertinent in regions where legal mandates require gas flaring, they add, commenting that bitcoin mining could improve the financial feasibility, potentially accelerating the development of landfill gas capture infrastructure and reducing the tax burden on local residents and businesses.
The researchers utilise modelling of various scenarios to show that bitcoin mining with landfill gas can be profitable, particularly with more energy efficient rigs used.
For example, for a fleet of rigs fully consuming 10 million kWh/year of electricity, across the scenarios the mean net revenue for miners is estimated at $935,000 and for the landfill $332,000, with maximums of $5.9 million and $2.2 million respectively.
The emissions reductions would amount to 2,187Mt of CH4.
The researchers note, however, that there are significant financial risks, particularly for smaller landfills that may have high kWh electricity production costs or if the price of bitcoin was to fall significantly.
Strategic decisions in hardware selection, operational efficiency, and revenue-sharing models to balance benefits and risks for both landfill operators and bitcoin miners, are important, they point out.
Landfill methane use
While the researchers present a framework for the use of landfill gas for bitcoin mining, the real world implementation was an initial area of focus of California-based Vespene Energy, from which it has expanded into further use cases.
In 2022, Vespene Energy received funding from the blockchain investment firm Polychain Capital and others to pilot its micro-turbine gas-to-electricity technology. In 2023, the company partnered with natural gas platform Viridi Energy to pilot the use of landfill methane emissions from a municipal landfill in Marathon County, Wisconsin to power onsite data processing.
Vespene Energy also is leading ‘Project Pleiades’ to advance the use of landfill gas for EV charging in the US, with the ambition to generate 80MW+ of baseload dispatchable electricity from 50 municipal landfills in 21 states.