Bitcoin is a counterintuitive solution that serves ecology

While the controversy surrounding Bitcoin mining continues to ignite, particularly during the last Greenpeace USA campaign, the question of bitcoin’s energy consumption is an increasingly hot topic. The mining industry sector is constantly evolving and despite bitcoin's advances in its use of renewable energy, there appears to be a glass ceiling that bitcoin detractors are unwilling to cross.

Although more and more environmental activists like Daniel Batten are defending Bitcoin, there is still much work to be done to clarify the debate.

For the anonymous author “Level39“, this is explained by the fact that bitcoin is a counterintuitive solution. He explains in a series of 36 tweets why it is still difficult to imagine that Bitcoin could be a solution and not a problem for the environment.

Sometimes, certain tweets have the merit of being clearer than a long presentation or a tedious article. This is what we thought of the author's recent tweet @Level39, which regularly contributes to The Bitcoin Magazine, the first journal entirely devoted to Bitcoin.

Here is the translation of his thread here, the original version of which is available here.

Bitcoin is a counterintuitive solution for the ecological cause

1/ Why are environmental activists and climate policy advocates changing their minds on # Bitcoin ? The answer is that Bitcoin is what we call a “counterintuitive solution”. Let's find out why.

“I worked on climate policy in Canada for 10 years. I saw that the investments for the CO2 objectives were insufficient. I now know that the incentives to mine bitcoin are there to accelerate the use of renewable energies, use waste and provide a solution to CH4 (editor's note: methane)”.

I am a veteran activist for social and environmental justice. I did my first demonstration at the age of 12 to fight apartheid. Several directions in this direction since. I thought like you before until we launched our investment fund climatetech, where I realized that bitcoin mining was part of the solution and not the problem.

2) Counterintuitive solutions are seen as a net negative for humanity, but are actually a net positive. They go against preconceived ideas and require humility and open-mindedness to recognize them. For example, blood transfusions were banned in the late XNUMXth century.

3) In 1774, dairy farmer Benjamin Jesty intentionally infected his family with “cowpox” in a counterintuitive attempt to protect them from the virus. fatal from smallpox. He was vilified. After Edwin Jenner perfected a vaccine, satirists described vaccine recipients as having growths of cow parts.

4) In the 18th century, Humphry Davy discovered that inhaling nitrous oxide could relieve pain during surgical procedures. Davy was ridiculed for challenging the prevailing beliefs of doctors who believed that pain was good for patients and speeded recovery.

5) At the beginning of the XNUMXth century, the Russian scientist Elie Metchnikoff hypothesized that there were beneficial bacteria that could create a healthy balance in the gut's microorganisms. This was counterintuitive to conventional wisdom that all bacteria were harmful. Metchnikoff was widely criticized.

6) In the 20th century, researchers discovered that periodic wildfires preserved health and biodiversity by removing dead wood and undergrowth, allowing new growth and promoting species diversity. Although it may seem counterintuitive, fires can benefit ecosystems.

7) The investor in climate technologies, Daniel Batten (@DSBatten) who has also been an author, analyst and environmental activist for 30 years, thinks #Bitcoin is another counterintuitive solution. He believes Bitcoin is essential to achieving international climate goals.

8) The “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change” (@IPCCT) envisages a “cooperative world” (SSP1 and SSP2), which is still not relevant. Since we live in a non-cooperative/competitive SSP3 world, it is believed that policy enforcement and compliance is the only solution to achieving climate goals.

9) Bitcoin is a tool that can be a net-positive in a SSP3 world. Not because bitcoin miners are necessarily altruistic, but because it makes more economic sense to use the waste for bitcoin mining.

10) Although it may not seem obvious at first, burning methane into CO₂, which would otherwise have to be released, is positive for the environment. For what? Methane (CH₄) has more than 84 times the warming power of CO₂ in its first 20 years. CH₄ levels are rising faster than ever.

11) In recent years, methane emissions from agriculture, landfills and the oil/gas industry have been found to have been seriously underestimated and reducing these emissions is now considered essential to achieve international climate goals.

Activist Daniel Batten explains it in a video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1640569544769978369

12) It is better to burn methane than to let it enter the atmosphere. The oil and gas industry often burns it, but flaring gas still lets 8% of methane escape. With thermal imaging, we see that flaring is ineffective, especially when there are powerful winds.

13) Because flaring is inefficient and often flares go out completely while there is little incentive to reignite them, a better way to burn the methane is to pipe it into a generator and sell the gas. energy, which will efficiently burn 99,9% of methane.

14) The problem is that the energy from these methane-powered generators cannot be used for more productive purposes. You need a mobile buyer, which can turn on and off at any time, and can be located in remote or undesirable locations. So you need Bitcoin miners.

15) Bitcoin miners are the best-suited buyers to burn these stranded methane sources. And funds focused on climate technology are starting to take notice, as climate technology investor and environmental activist Daniel Batten explains here.

16) It is for these reasons that many who once thought Bitcoin was a net negative for the environment, now believe it is an essential tool for meeting international climate goals, eliminating a theoretical maximum of 23% of methane emissions according to Daniel Batten.
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17) The emissions data used in the media to claim that #Bitcoin is an environmental disaster has a glaring limitation. They use miners' IP addresses to estimate the network's energy mix to establish an emissions profile. That is problematic.

18) Off-grid miners (off grid) reduce methane emissions that would otherwise cause 84 times the warming power of CO₂. This means that these miners have negative CO₂e emissions which are not included in the measurements used by the media that sow panic about bitcoin mining.

19) When off-grid miners are included in emissions measurements, a very different picture emerges. The majority of Bitcoin miners are not only sustainable, they represent a new climate technology tool solving real problems.

—>Read the article for details: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-uses-mostly-sustainable-energy (The majority of Bitcoin mining is powered by sustainable energy) as well as le report from the Bitcoin Mining Council which shows that more than 60% of the energy used by miners is “renewable”.

20) The #Bitcoin network is trending towards becoming CO₂ negative as miners switch to renewable energy and help reduce methane.

21) Abandoned wells are notorious for disintegrating and leaking methane. Extracting methane gas from these wells relieves the built-up pressure. Miners replace decaying parts for their own safety, which prevents future methane from leaking into the environment.

22) Bitcoin can also balance energy networks, acting as demand response and flexible loads when these networks are saturated with intermittent renewable energy.

23) #Bitcoin is proving to be a technology that promotes sustainable pilot plants, to cross the so-called “Innovation Valley of Death” and overcome the economies of scale that often hinder these projects.

24) Bitcoin is essential for encouraging innovative forms in energy production that otherwise could not find energy buyers to scale. These technologies could provide clean renewable energy for 1 billion people in the tropics.

—>Read the article: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/bitcoin-unlocks-ocean-energy

25) Bitcoin encourages and monetizes the capture of energy from landfill gas methane – developing this technology so that it can one day contribute to the grid.

26) This allows companies like Prti (@PrtiInc) to be able to transform used or unsaleable tires into fuel, which is then used to mine Bitcoin, and capture emissions to prevent them from entering the atmosphere.

27) Society Irish Farmers Scilling Digital Mining (@ScilingMining) use anaerobic digesters to mine Bitcoin. Waste is turned into electricity for the network and anything the network doesn't need is used for bitcoin mining, creating additional income for farms.

28) Virunga National Park (@gorillacd) located in eastern Congo mines Bitcoin to finance the conservation of endangered species and preserve natural biodiversity resources, and derives double benefits for the park and the inhabitants.

—>Read the article: https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/01/13/1066820/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-mining-congo-virunga-national-park/

29) As a zero-sum game, investing in sustainable #Bitcoin miners can give these miners a survival advantage in otherwise ruthless competition, thereby pushing the network towards greater sustainability.

—>Link to the site: https://www.resistance.money/green/

30) Critics argue that blocked energy sources could be used for more productive purposes. This is a logical fallacy known as “false dilemma” and ignores the fact that no other industry has used these resources consistently.

31) Additionally, Bitcoin acts as a pioneer species that can evolve and unlock new energy sources when other charges appear to outbid it. This is similar to how lichen releases resources from arid landscapes for lush forests to evolve.

Source: Bitcoin is a Pioneer Species by Brandon Quittem (https://brandonquittem.com/bitcoin-is-a-pioneer-species/)

32) Environmental groups like @greenpeaceusa have been slow to recognize that their attacks on #Bitcoin represent a denial against a counterintuitive solution to the problems they care about. In doing so, they tarnish their reputation.

33) Junk science, from ethically conflicting sources, is often used to mount ill-informed attacks on counterintuitive solutions. The supporters of CBDC are using the same tactics against #Bitcoin.

34) While Bitcoin may be a counterintuitive net-positive solution for environmental causes, its primary goal is to promote prosperity and open, neutral payment channels for all humanity.

35) Whether it's vaccinations, prescribed wildfires, or any number of counterintuitive solutions presenting themselves to humanity, it may take years for mainstream thinkers to see their value. Those who are open-minded and humble are rewarded for thinking against the grain.

36) Thanks to Daniel Batten @DSBatten for his hard work. The video clips presented in this Twitter thread are available in their entirety here: