Could Bitcoin Be Our Best Chance To Mitigate Runaway Methane Emissions?

This is an sentiment editorial by Daniel Batten, a Bitcoin ESG analyst, clime tech investor, writer and biology campaigner.

I didn’t get funny successful Bitcoin due to the fact that of its quality to lick fiscal issues. My inheritance is successful investing successful clime tech. When I archetypal heard astir Bitcoin, I was highly skeptical and regarded it arsenic a antagonistic to the environment. However, I was persuaded to enactment prejudice to 1 broadside and measure it arsenic I would immoderate different exertion I was doing owed diligence on. After evaluating the claims and information from some sides I reached the decision that connected nett balance, Bitcoin had the unsocial quality to lick much than 1 difficult-to-solve climate-change issue.

First, immoderate context: I person been a clime activistic since the 1990s. Several years ago, I channeled this into moving successful the abstraction of clime tech. Between 2014 and 2019, I traveled astir New Zealand, proceeding immoderate of the smartest radical successful the state discussing their ideas, and helping them to commercialize them. Most of these ideas were immoderate signifier of clime tech. I encountered implicit 200 antithetic clime tech propositions during this time, and acceptable up my archetypal clime tech money astatine the extremity of 2019.

Throughout that time, I ne'er encountered a exertion that had the immediacy, scalability and imaginable interaction of Bitcoin mining utilizing vented methane state to measurably trim planetary emissions pre-2030.

Bitcoin Mining And Methane Emissions

One day, arsenic portion of my enactment astatine the fund, I was speechmaking an nonfiction astir methane emissions.

It said that methane was 84-times much warming than c dioxide implicit a 20-year period, that it was rising parabolically and that the UN said "reducing methane is our strongest lever to trim clime change!"

I was shocked. How, arsenic a clime tech money manager, could I person neglected addressing methane emissions?

I did immoderate further probe and recovered retired that I wasn’t the lone one. Out of each $1 spent connected clime tech, lone 2 cents was going toward methane mitigation, I found.

That day, I got brutally honorable with myself and asked, “How overmuch of a quality americium I making?” There was nary uncertainty that we were investing successful immoderate superb technologies and radical that could trim emissions connected a planetary scale. But it turned retired that a deficiency of accent connected methane mitigation was not my lone oversight.

The tech we invested in:

1. Was precocious hazard (it mightiness ne'er scale)
2. Would lone trim emissions post-2030
3. Wasn't addressing our astir urgent emanation issue

I asked the question, “Could I beryllium doing more?” The reply was, of course, “Yes.” I could beryllium investing successful technologies that were:

1. Low risk
2. Able to measurably trim emissions pre-2030
3. Able to code our number-one lever to trim clime alteration successful the adjacent 25 years (methane)

I started researching much astir methane-mitigation technology. Most of it was similar carbon-dioxide-emission technology: high-risk exertion that wouldn’t beryllium disposable until aft 2030. While determination was nary uncertainty that we should besides beryllium investing successful those technologies, that was nary longer my focus.

I decided that if I were going to make a 3rd fund, it would beryllium optimized for contiguous impact, and maximize emissions reduced per dollar invested. Otherwise, determination was nary point.

So, I began researching 2 things:

1. How to usage low-risk exertion disposable instantly to trim emissions pre-2030
2. What our large sources of methane were

To reply the archetypal question, I looked astatine proven ways to trim methane emissions utilizing existing technologies. Reading the enactment of experts from the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and besides the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), determination was small uncertainty that the exertion existed to execute methane mitigation astatine standard today: powerfulness generation.

In different words, capturing that methane and sending it to a generator, turning it into electricity. OK, that sounds similar a bully idea, peculiarly with vigor prices spiking globally, I thought.

So, I turned to our 2nd question, “Where is astir of our methane coming from?”

The answer, I found, was agriculture, lipid and state and landfills.

However, of those three, the 1 that seemed the easiest to bash thing astir rapidly was besides the 1 that my calculations told maine would beryllium our number-one methane emitter by 2032, overtaking agriculture: landfills.

Source: Author

That led maine to the question that changed everything I was doing: “Why isn’t this being done already?” As 1 adept who’d been doing landfill-based powerfulness procreation projects since 2005 explained to me, “Landfills are ne'er successful the close place. In galore cases, negotiating with the grid proprietor is analyzable and bureaucratic. And, adjacent if you tin bash it, often the grid needs a large substation upgrade to beryllium capable to instrumentality that power. It ends up being excessively expensive.”

“But what if, alternatively than selling that powerfulness to the grid, you had idiosyncratic who could usage it connected location, astatine the landfill?” I asked.

He shook his head.

“But who would privation to bash that?” helium asked. “Landfills are smelly places, and the methane is simply a wellness hazard. No 1 would privation to acceptable up a concern there.”

That was the constituent wherever 2 worlds abruptly collided for me. Several months earlier, I’d besides been researching Bitcoin. Not due to the fact that I thought it had immoderate merits successful presumption of clime tech — successful fact, I thought it was atrocious for the environment. It was simply a hobby. I similar to get to the bottommost of issues and recognize the information down them. Bitcoin was simply successful that category.

I had environmentalist friends who told maine that Bitcoin was atrocious for the environment. But I besides had a person successful the Bitcoin assemblage who told maine that was nonsense based connected people’s deficiency of knowing of Bitcoin mining.

The turning constituent came successful precocious 2021 erstwhile I talked to Vlatko Materić, an environmentalist and the laminitis of 1 of our clime tech companies who challenged my assumptions astir vigor and Bitcoin, and encouraged maine to excavation deeper. I did, and rapidly learned that helium was right: Bitcoin’s location-agnostic features and precocious percent of operating costs spent connected energy made it ideally suited to utilizing stranded vigor that nary 1 other wanted oregon was capable to access.

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Listening to grid operators, bitcoin miners and renewable vigor engineers was captious during this time. Had I relied connected world articles and journalism, I would person travel distant with immoderate precise antithetic conclusions. When I did work the latter, by contrast, it became much and much evident to maine that they were critiquing a exertion that they didn’t afloat grasp. This deficiency of reliable information connected Bitcoin's biology interaction from the articles and studies I work led maine to bash my ain studies.

Taking Climate Action With Bitcoin

So, skipping guardant successful time, erstwhile that landfill adept said that nary 1 would privation to find astatine landfills, I said to myself, “I cognize idiosyncratic who decidedly would.”

It turned retired that others had already thought of that, and that 2 Bitcoin mining companies were either already doing landfill-gas-powered bitcoin mining, oregon connected the cusp of doing it (Nodal Power and Vespene Energy).

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When I did the mathematics connected Bitcoin utilizing vented methane gas, it was a eureka moment. A money that financed the deployment of infrastructure into Bitcoin mining utilizing landfill state could mitigate much emissions than immoderate fiscal instrumentality I’d seen. It was 65-times much emanation reducing than star installations.

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To enactment the supra illustration into context, for idiosyncratic surviving successful the west, our calculations suggested that $108 could offset their emissions for the year. Less than $10,000 could offset their full c footprint for a lifetime. We did immoderate enactment to physique a team, and travel up with a concern exemplary that could instrumentality a dependable output to our wholesale investors, and that became the ground of the money CH4 Capital.

I didn't commencement disconnected arsenic a Bitcoin advocate, but I've go one. My conclusion: There's astir apt ne'er been a much important exertion for our chances of mitigating runaway methane emissions, enabling the renewable modulation and, arsenic I recovered retired on the way, giving fiscal sovereignty to much than 4 cardinal people.

For the archetypal clip ever, I consciousness there's thing I tin bash beyond my ain c footprint that could marque a quality to our emanation levels. It's a driblet successful the bucket, but it’s a start. And it's a commencement that we wouldn't person without Bitcoin.

That’s wherefore I say: Bitcoin is clime action.

This is simply a impermanent station by Daniel Batten. Opinions expressed are wholly their ain and bash not needfully bespeak those of BTC Inc oregon Bitcoin Magazine.