The 2nd Global Blockchain Computing Power Conference took place on April 17th in Chengdu, Central Sichuan. It focused on the impact of carbon neutrality on digital currency mining.
The conference was jointly hosted by Kevin Pan Zhibiao, Co-founder of Poolin, Chinese Journalist Colin Wu, and ChainNodee, an online blockchain community. Wu tweeted:
“Poolin founder Kevin Pan shared a map of global and Chinese Bitcoin hashrate distribution. The world is mainly concentrated between 30 and 70 degrees north latitude, and China is mainly concentrated in Xinjiang and Sichuan.“
Zhibiao’s talk focuses on finding a solution for the emission problem faced by crypto mining. The northern latitude region accounts for more than 70% of the total amount of coal in the world. The global distribution of power consumption of mining machine computing is found in this region.
Where Does China’s Mining Power Come From?
China accounts for about a quarter of the world’s power generation at present, and thermal power provides a majority of the power in the region. This contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Data suggests Sichuan accounts for the total domestic electricity consumption during the high water period with abundant water resources.
Mining accounts for half the electricity consumption, with the Yunnan region accounting for half of Sichuan’s electricity consumption. 80% of Chining’s mining in the summer season comes from clean hydropower energy. During the winter season, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia consume electricity from thermal power generation.
Data shows that Xinjiang accounts for half of the country’s mining, while Inner Mongolia accounts for about 30%. Combining the two factors, approximately 65% of digital mining energy comes from clean energy. Countries that have developed nuclear and wind power can reduce this figure to 20-30%.
China Is Tackling Emission Problems
In principle, no new energy and chemical projects will be approved during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period in the Inner Mongolian region. New virtual currency mining projects are strictly prohibited. The best method available is to use the available hydropower completely.
Using wasted energy will also curb carbon emissions, says Zhibiao. According to data from 2019, the total amount of waste electricity reached 5.49 billion kilowatt-hours, and the amount of waste water was about 69.1 billion kilowatt-hours. There is immense potential for this power to be used in crypto mining.
Zhibiao believes that Bitcoin mining is not the same as other systems and is very convenient as it does not contribute to light, air, or noise pollution. It can accumulate a large amount of energy in a small place, which consumes a lot of power.
A possible solution is the multiple uses of energy. The power consumption of the mining machine is concentrated at the chip of the mining machine. It can directly convert 95% of the electrical energy into heat.
The future mining machine can be used as a medium of heat. The mining machine could also be a source for a heating device, with the heat further used for agricultural production, operating greenhouses, and the food processing industry.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.
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