Bitcoin could start to be mined with wind power. We will detail the plan that Layer1 has in mind.
Bitcoin Mining
Firstly, Bitcoin mining is one of the activities with the highest demand for electric power. This is because of the need to use specialized devices for mining, due to the complexity of this process. This situation has led to the creation of hardware that requires large amounts of energy to be able to solve crypto operations and execute transactions.
The centralization of Bitcoin
During recent times, one of the main criticisms that have emerged against Bitcoin is its excessive centralization. This is because, with the passage of time, the operations for the mining of BTC have become more complicated. The use of special hardware is required to solve the chain blocks.
This is taking a path to an entry barrier imposed on cryptocurrency mining. Only those individuals or groups of individuals with enough purchasing power to acquire these devices will be able to participate in the mining of Bitcoin.
This fact has led detractors of this cryptocurrency to create alternative currencies. These alternatives would get back, according to them, to the initial democratic spirit of Bitcoin and pay homage to Satoshi Nakamoto’s original plan.
However, none of these experiments has been nearly as successful as Bitcoin. Consequently, the process of centralization of the mining power (and of the overall power) within the platform has continued with a group of large mining farms managing most of the mining using expensive machines, which are large consumers of electrical power.
An eco-friendly alternative
It is this excessive use of electrical energy that Layer1 would be targeting. Layer1 is a company that tries to develop Bitcoin mining methods while taking advantage of the existence of renewable energy. They specifically target wind energy.
The company’s goal is to establish a completely wind-powered BTC mining operation by next year. It would be located in West Texas, for which they are raising funds, having already $20 million.
According to the company, the use of wind energy for BTC mining does not mean a deviation from other more important uses. This is so, because “Renewable energies continue to be fundamentally under-utilized, so they are not really a zero-sum game.“
That is, the use of renewable energy for the mining of Bitcoin does not mean the decrease of the energy available for other uses. On the contrary, it would mean the increase of the total wind power generation capacity. This would be the result of Layer1’s investment.
One of the main criticisms of Bitcoin is the enormous amount of energy that its mining require. Therefore, an initiative like that of Layer1 is a great example of the potential of this cryptocurrency to continue its development in a sustainable manner.
