Collie, a small mining town in Australia, 200 kilometres South of Perth. In General, the population survives at the expense of the coal industry within the Shire of Collie there are 15 coal mines. In November 2014, in the district of the crisis: production processes slowed down the pace, began a wave of cuts. However, soon the city may be a new “gold mine”.
A local operator of data centers DC and Two of its subsidiary operating in the field of cryptocurrencies, D Coin, you are going to open in Collie new mining farm powered by solar panels. According to the Australian publication IT Brief, the area of the battery complex will be provided by the supplier of renewable energy Hadouken Pty Ltd.
In an official statement, DC Two said that the opening of the centre in Collie “combine a lot of factors that will supply energy at globally competitive conditions, at the same time raising much-needed demand for basic download to operating in the region of coal mines and generators”.
The new facility promises to be a data center with the highest bandwidth at the lowest cost in Australia. In addition, it will feature a separate area specially designed for mining of cryptocurrencies and bitcoin in particular.
In General, according to IT Brief, the first stage of supplying energy panels will generate up to 4 megawatts for powering servers. The entire farm will be able to support the work of up to 256 racks when loading of each rack to 30 kilowatts.
“Taking into account the full configuration of miners and results 4 megawatts in the first stage, the center will produce about 650 BTC in a year with a net profit of 6 million Australian dollars in accordance with the operational expenditure and the current rate at the stock exchange”.
DC Two and Hadouken is not the first company who decided to occupy the niche of “green mining” in Australia. The IOT Group and Hunter Energy has created a similar data centre in New South Wales. In addition, the existing station of renewable energy in Newcastle and the Latrobe valley also have the potential to enter the market of mining farms.
But, besides the healthy competition, DC Two and a Hadouken can face two problems: the interests of the local coal companies and, ironically, eco-activists.
July 19, the municipal Council of the Shire of Collie voted against installing solar panels as an alternative to coal energy technologies. Five of the seven Council members spoke against the initiative — despite significant budget cuts, due to the dominant position of the coal-mining business, and created jobs. One of the members of the Council, John Paganini (John Piavanini) even insisted that the Collie should “lead the effort and burn more coal”.
Given the fact that the local Council is not interested in reducing costs, Hadouken could take a winning position, offering new career opportunities to the local population. However, the potential of the data center and solar power in General for employment is unknown: the report of the Committee’s decision on the assessment of the construction works not specified the potential impact of the enterprise on the local labour market. On the other hand, from the point of view of conservation of natural and cultural heritage, claims to project no. However, a recent study can motivate the “green” to boycott the installation and operation of the mining equipment at the facility Hadouken, and the authorities — to impose on the company additional tax liability.
Dr. John Blow (Jon Truby) of Qatar University conducted an energy analysis of the cryptocurrency exchanges and bitcoin miners and found that the current level of energy consumption for the generation of new blocks, and transaction inside the chain BTC can aggravate climate change.
In particular, the Trumpet believes that mining bitcoins, even if not purposefully, leads to an increase of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, the energy consumption of a single transaction BTC is 200 kWh, which is almost seven times higher than Ethereum (37 kWh). Sound the obtained results confirm other studies writes, citing an unnamed scientific works Daily Hodl the BTC blockchain consumes an amount of energy sufficient to cover the energy needs of the Danish population (5.7 million people). At the same time, the index of electricity consumption BTC Digiconomist shows that the energy consumed for one transaction would be enough for the daily supply of electricity of about 29 households in the United States.
As countermeasures Trumpet offers the compulsory registration fees of stock brokers, introduction of tax on savings in bitcoin, restrictions and additional tax on purchase and import of mining equipment, the introduction of additional fees from the transactions provided for smart contracts.
Also, the researcher offers cryptocurrency companies to switch to less energy-consuming consensus-based mechanisms. Although he did not provide specific alternatives, Trumpet emphasizes that the most energy-consuming Protocol is a PoW, which is used in the Bitcoin network.
It is difficult to predict how events will develop around the data center DC, Two. On the one hand, the placement of such enterprise will probably attract additional investment and potential income for the Treasury in extra taxes. The latter, however, it is also impossible to say with certainty that the environmental assessment of the plant found no potential threats to the environment; in addition, the DC Two miners will use an alternative energy source. However, according to Collie Mail, even for the Shire of Collie care from the coal industry is inevitable — and perhaps the initiative Hadouken and DC Two will be the first major sustainable energy and blockchain-companies in the region.
Perhaps further integration of crypto-currencies and the Australian solar energy entrepreneurs and investors to inspire a unique example of cooperation and Exchange, Sun Technical University of Republic of Moldova. The aim of the project — the motivation of citizens to promote renewable energy through the leasing of the purchased panels in exchange for money. At the moment, the project is expected to transition to the stage of testing.
comments powered by HyperComments
