From Mining to Mitigation: How Bitcoin Can Support Renewable Energy Development and Climate Action
Apoorv Lal, Jesse Zhu, Fengqi You
Abstract
The world is currently facing a major issue of high emissions from fossil-fuel-based energy sources, which contribute to the persistent problem of climate change. A switch to a renewable-powered infrastructure is necessary to mitigate this challenge. However, the shift to renewable energy faces obstacles, such as high costs and economic uncertainties. This work proposes mitigation of climate change by investigating the potential for bitcoin mining to serve as a means of utilizing surplus renewable energy from planned installations before grid integration. The study’s findings indicate the potential for bitcoin to provide economic benefits as an alternative to grid-powered mining at planned renewable installations across the U.S. states. We show that states like Texas have the maximum potential, with 32 planned renewable installations that could generate combined profits of $47M using bitcoin mining during precommercial operation.