Green energy powers most of Bitcoin mining and the world might as well face it. And the rest of the cryptocurrencies that use Proof-Of-Work might be right behind, because they follow the same incentives. In their quest for cheaper energy sources, they all reach the same conclusion. Humanity is wasting renewable energy all over the world. And wasted energy is the cheapest of them all. In today’s story, a hydropower plant that had to pause operations for nine months found cryptocurrency mining and got the dream client they needed. Reuters gives us the prelude to the story: “The plant was forced to reinvent itself after 30 years because the government stopped buying electricity during the pandemic due to surplus power supply in the Central American country, where the state has a monopoly on energy distribution.” How much green energy does a country has to have to just stop buying from a clean hydro plant? Well, according to hydropower.org: “At the end of 2016, Costa Rica reached a total installed hydropower capacity of 2.12 GW. The country dominated the headlines for the second consecutive year, achieving 100 per cent renewable electricity production for a total of 271 days.” How Did Crypto Mining Enter The Hydro Plant’s Picture? Because of the FUD that everybody and their grandmas spread through traditional media and spills into social media, Eduardo Kooper, the owner of the plant, doubted to go the crypto mining route. However,...
