Will Bitcoin mining boil the oceans?
What happens when you build a 50 megawatt plant in a place where they only have 15 megawatts of demand? In some cases, if it's alternative energy, like wind, solar, or hydro, you can't turn it off or turn it down. You've built it, and it will produce, and then what? You're basically wasting energy.Now what if, in that environment, you can find a way to turn that energy into an alternative store of value […] by using electricity that would be otherwise wasted. Now, Bitcoin is an environmental subsidy to alternative energy all around the world.
The fact that energy is "stored" in the form of cryptocurrency offsets the cost of developing these solutions – especially now that we know that a lot of renewable energy is wasted. The Bitcoin mining industry is actually contributing to the development of alternative energy solutions by converting excess energy into a valuable product simply by using the electricity produced. Hydro-Québec, Canada's largest public service, is a perfect example.