The modern world runs on energy. From charging our smartphones to fueling industries, from heating homes to propelling vehicles, the demand for energy is omnipresent. As the global population expands and economies grow, this demand intensifies. Unfortunately, the world has increasingly faced energy shortages. To understand the magnitude and implications of this issue, let’s delve deep into the data.

Global Energy Consumption Trends

Total Energy Consumption: According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), global energy consumption has been on a steady upward trajectory. In the past two decades, it increased by over 40%. While advancements in energy efficiency have curtailed some demand, economic growth, particularly in developing nations, has amplified consumption rates.
Fossil Fuel Dependence: Despite the surge in renewable energy projects, fossil fuels (oil, coal, and natural gas) still accounted for nearly 80% of the world’s total energy consumption as of 2020. This significant reliance on finite resources underscores the vulnerabilities in our global energy systems.

Energy Access Disparities

Electrification Rates: Data from the World Bank highlighted that, as of 2019, nearly 770 million people lived without access to electricity. Most of these individuals reside in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Energy Poverty: Beyond basic electrification, millions more suffer from energy poverty, a condition where households can’t afford or lack access to the necessary energy services for heating, cooking, and lighting. The implications are vast, including health risks from indoor pollution and limited economic opportunities.

The Strain of Growing Economies and Populations

Rising Middle Class: As nations develop, their middle-class populations burgeon, leading to increased energy demands for improved living standards, including air conditioning, electronic devices, and personal vehicles. The Brookings Institution estimated that the global middle class would expand by over a billion people by 2030, further straining energy resources.
Urbanization Trends: The United Nations has predicted that by 2050, around 68% of the world’s population will live in urban areas, up from 55% in 2018. Urbanization typically correlates with higher energy consumption due to concentrated infrastructure, transportation, and commercial demands.

The Energy-Hungry World of Bitcoin Mining

Cryptocurrency mining, especially Bitcoin mining, is notorious for its vast energy consumption. Traditionally reliant on conventional sources of energy, such as coal and natural gas, Bitcoin mining has faced mounting criticism for its environmental impact. In response, there has been a global race to find more sustainable alternatives, leading companies to tap into unconventional and sometimes controversial energy sources.

Stronghold’s Tires-to-Energy Proposal

As reported by The Guardian, Stronghold put forth a proposal to burn tires and utilize the ensuing energy for Bitcoin mining. At first glance, this approach might seem eco-friendly—after all, tires, once they reach the end of their useful life, often end up in landfills, contributing to environmental degradation. However, the reality of burning tires is much more complex.
The combustion of tires releases toxic chemicals into the air, including substances that have been linked to severe health concerns like cancer, lung disease, and birth defects. Such emissions pose not only a threat to the environment but also to nearby communities. While Stronghold insists that they intend to reuse the waste produced, the veracity and environmental impact of such claims remain to be substantiated.
In defense of this method, some point to a statement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suggesting that burning tires could be more environmentally friendly than leaving them in landfills. However, this statement is nuanced and should be contextualized. While burning might divert tires from landfills, it introduces other significant environmental and health challenges.

Local Backlash

The residents of Carbon County, Pennsylvania, where Stronghold intended to implement this project, have voiced their concerns and opposition. As highlighted by local Carol Etheride, the general sentiment is one of disbelief and shock. “Burning tires to fuel something like Bitcoin or cryptocurrency is really unacceptable in my opinion,” Etheride commented, emphasizing the lack of local benefits from such an endeavor.

Stronghold’s Coal Waste Initiative

Amid the controversy surrounding the tire-burning proposal, Stronghold has also embarked on another energy venture—using coal waste to generate electricity. The company has been extracting old coal ash from a Pennsylvania mine, a waste by-product that if left untreated, could seep into and contaminate soil and groundwater.
By transferring this coal waste to boiler rooms for combustion, Stronghold claims to produce electricity that powers their mining operations. Such an approach purportedly spares the national power system from additional strain. However, the long-term environmental implications of this process, both in terms of emissions and potential land contamination, remain areas of concern.

SAI: NEW PROFITABLE ENERGY SOLUTION FOR BITCOIN MINING

SAI is a clean computing company dedicated to researching innovative methods to meet the global demand for computing power. SAI is committed to providing a zero carbon energy system based on small modular reactors (SAINUC), clean computing services based on liquid cooling and chip waste heat utilization technology (SAIHEAT), and cloud computing services based on blockchain and artificial intelligence technology (SAIBIT).
With its cutting-edge cooling technology, SAI has created a computing infrastructure that supports these devices in excellent ways, such as submerged cooling and rack mounted water cooling systems. For example, Tankbox prevents system overheating and temperature fluctuations by running on an immersive cooling tank that can convert air-cooled servers to liquid cooling mode while reducing hardware events.
TANKBOX can be adjusted to adapt to different mining rigs with different hosting requirements. It gives customers the possibility to plan for the future and reduces the cost of infrastructural renewal due to crypto mining rig iterations.
High mobility, 20ft container certified by classification societies, easy transportation on sea and land.
Standardization, engineering productization, integrated production and assembly, no more extensive site conversion.
TANKBOX reserves a heat recycle interface so that customers can easily apply computing waste heat through immersion cooling to scenarios with large heating demands such as agriculture or industry.

Conclusion

As the world grapples with the dual challenges of the energy crisis and environmental sustainability, the cryptocurrency mining sector sits at the crossroads of innovation and responsibility. Stronghold’s ventures into unconventional energy sources exemplify the lengths to which companies might go to sustain their operations. However, as these initiatives show, there’s a critical need to balance innovation with ethical responsibility, environmental stewardship, and community welfare.
The discourse around Stronghold’s approach underscores a broader debate: how do we reconcile the growing demand for energy with the imperative of environmental and social responsibility? As we move forward, this question will only become more pressing, necessitating a collaborative, informed, and balanced approach.