Clean Spark is a cryptocurrency mining firm in Woods Cross, Utah that appears to have found a sustainable crypto mining solution that would make even the most die-hard environmentalists happy.
Clean Spark Ensure Clean Mining for All
In recent weeks, crypto mining has been at the center of heavy controversy. Several digital currency heads and financial analysts – including Elon Musk of SpaceX and Tesla fame and Kevin O’Leary from the television show “Shark Tank” – have come out to condemn the process, saying that it leads to irreversible damage to the environment.
Musk, for example, made headlines when he announced that he would no longer permit bitcoin-based purchases for Tesla goods and services, while O’Leary has stated he will no longer be purchasing any bitcoin mined in China given that the country does not utilize environmentally friendly methods for extracting new units.
There have also been several reports produced claiming that bitcoin mining uses more energy than certain countries, such as Iceland and Argentina.
However, Clean Spark believes it has found the way. By using microgrid technology, the company says it can get most of its electrical power from one specific plant. The method of doing this is simple and can ultimately be done just by plugging into an electrical socket in the wall. The big clincher about microgrid technology is that it utilizes energy from a wide variety of green sources including solar, wind and hydroelectricity.
By utilizing this new method of extraction, Clean Spark stated that it can now “boost its hash rate” and “cut electrical usage.” Per a new report by Navigant Research in Boulder, Colorado, cryptocurrency mining operations are expected to begin utilizing more of this microgrid technology in the future. In fact, it is estimated that approximately 28 percent of crypto mining energy will stem from microgrid technology by the year 2029.
In the report, Navigant explains:
Although they are a minority portion of the market if measured by peak capacity, modular microgrids have the potential to make up most of the systems deployed over the next decade. Taking a modular approach is expected to help radically scale up microgrid deployments by commoditizing standard microgrid offerings that can be pieced together, thereby shrinking design and deployment costs.
Additional Measures Are Taken
Recently, the Crypto Climate Accord was signed by major mining companies working within the space. The agreement is designed to decarbonize the process over a set period to ensure digital mining can continue without presenting hazards to the atmosphere. The accord states:
For climate advocates, we can eliminate emissions from a fast-growing source of electric load. For the clean tech industry, we can onboard an entirely new class of customers with significant demand for low-carbon solutions. For the crypto industry, we can help support widespread adoption of crypto by making the industry more sustainable.
