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April 23, 2024Finland’s households turn to Bitcoin mining to heat homes
A groundbreaking project in Finland is harnessing energy from Bitcoin mining cryptocurrency to heat homes during the chilly Finnish winter.
Hashlabs Mining, an infrastructure firm for Bitcoin mining, has introduced a pioneering initiative to generate heat using specially designed Bitcoin mining devices.
Combining Mining with Heating
The project utilizes heat produced by hydro-cooled ASIC mining devices, such as the WhatsMiner M63S, and integrates it with Finland’s district heating system. This system distributes heat from a centralized source through insulated pipes to numerous buildings, allowing households to benefit from industrial Bitcoin mining.
Jaran Mellerud, co-founder of Hashlabs Mining, highlighted the potential of utilizing Bitcoin miners as industrial consumers to leverage Finland’s nuclear power plants for heat production.
A local partner of Hashlabs has already integrated two Bitcoin mines with district heating facilities and is in the process of integrating a third one.
The project utilizes hot water generated by the WhatsMiner M63S mining devices, reaching temperatures of up to 70 degrees Celsius. This hot water is poised to replace heat generated from plants using biomass, peat, hard coal, and other carbon-neutral sources.
Data from Statistics Finland reveals that, as of 2019, the majority of Finland’s district heat was produced using wood fuels (35%), followed by hard coal (18%), and peat (15%).
Growing Trend of Environmentally-Friendly Bitcoin Mining
The concept of utilizing energy from Bitcoin mining for heating purposes has gained momentum in recent years. Savvy Bitcoin miners have explored various methods to make Bitcoin mining more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
Some miners have repurposed Bitcoin mining-generated heat to warm swimming pools, dehydrate meat for beef jerky production, and dry timber. Notably, in June 2023, a bathhouse in New York utilized byproduct heat from Bitcoin mining rigs to power its facilities.
