The post Marathon Digital Holdings Launches Pilot Landfill Methane-Powered Bitcoin Mining Project appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

In a press release, Marathon Digital Holdings announced a partnership with Nodal Power, a renewable energy developer and operator, to launch a pilot project for mining bitcoin powered solely with energy derived from landfill methane. The already-active 280kW mining project is located in Utah and represents a step forward for the companies in implementing environmentally beneficial bitcoin mining technologies. Marathon’s announcement comes after the release of a report co-published by Marathon and Bitcoin Magazine Pro: “Cashing in on Trash: Bitcoin Mining Offers an Economical Solution to Mitigating Landfill Methane Emissions” outlining the potential for bitcoin mining to profitably reduce methane emissions from landfills. According to the report, over 50% of U.S. landfills vent their methane emissions directly into the atmosphere, meaning they employ no greenhouse gas emissions mitigation solutions. This trend of vented methane represents both an environmental problem — methane emissions are 80x more potent in terms of the greenhouse effect compared to CO2 — but also an economic and energetic inefficiency, with massive quantities of the energy dense gas not being put to any use. Ostensibly, bitcoin mining can change this calculus in a positive way. “Do you want to pay to be compliant, or be paid to be compliant… if you’d rather be paid, you should look into bitcoin mining”, Marathon’s Chief Growth Officer Adam Swick said in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine on the topic of increasing federal methane regulation at U.S. landfills. In a request for comment, Swick framed of the cost-benefit analysis for landfill owners, highlighting the emerging alignment between environmental health and the profit-seeking incentive of mining: “to any landfill owner, municipality, private or public entity that has a landfill and is struggling with what to do with their methane – we’d love to talk about how to improve economics at your site…

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Filed under: News - @ November 6, 2023 6:22 pm