Alternatives to paying for electricy (natural gas, propane, gasoline...?)

[Chris!]

I know here in Ontario, Canada people are having huge issues with the price of electricity. If you heat with electricity you can expect anything from $350-900+ just for one month. This is why I really can't justify mining as a hobby (for now maybe ?).

Has anyone tried a different way to generate electricity like gasoline, propane, natural gas, coal (lol let's not and say we did) wind, flowing water? I've seen people using solar arrays which obviously is great, but it takes a lot of upfront capital.

I saw very innovative ways to generate electricity on http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-unbelievable-new-ways-generating-electricity/ but again none of them are really good for a small bitcoin / altcoin hobby mine.

I'm looking into using different bodies of water and seeing what people are already doing around the world to generate electricity from them. Anything else I should look into for maybe a cheaper startup? A $400 generator and $50 of gas? Haha.

Edit: here's anotger idea. Use a stream of water to generate electricity http://www.powerspout.com

[QuintLeo]

Nothing new to any of those ideas - but you'll find that "economy of scale" works AGAINST any of them being less than just paying the power company for almost ALL situations (the exceptions are generally so far off the grid it would cost MANY THOUSANDS to get power to that location).

 Also, as you have noticed, the STARTUP capitol costs are quite high for any form of "alternative" energy on a single-user scale, which is what makes many of those forms like wind and solar prohibitive in most cases.

[Chris!]

Nothing new to any of those ideas - but you'll find that "economy of scale" works AGAINST any of them being less than just paying the power company for almost ALL situations (the exceptions are generally so far off the grid it would cost MANY THOUSANDS to get power to that location).

 Also, as you have noticed, the STARTUP capitol costs are quite high for any form of "alternative" energy on a single-user scale, which is what makes many of those forms like wind and solar prohibitive in most cases.

I guess so. If a generator was more efficient than paying a certain rate from your electricity company's I guess everyone would be using generagors all the time to save money rather than using them in an emergency when the power goes out!

I really like the idea of this 'powerspout' that I found while googling how to create your own electricity. Again though, it costs $1300 so that's a huge con! I'll see how magnets create electricity and see if that's an easier way to generate some electricity.

[Dassi]

I checked the "Power Spout" you mentioned on Google. It's really good for those who live near running streams and rivers, but most people do not...

[mindrust]

That powerspout is very cool indeed.

You can also gather a bit more electric with this new innovation of Elon Musk: Solar Roof.

https://www.tesla.com/solar

It is just a solar panel but it doesn't look as ugly as the common models and Elon says it will be cheaper to design a roof with those panels instead of regular tiles.

[adaseb]

Only way where you actually can get "free" power is connect your miners to your vehicle while driving. The alternator produces hundreds of AMPs of current and most of it is wasted. If you drive an hour to work, then thats 2 hours of free mining.

[BurtW]

Only way where you actually can get "free" power is connect your miners to your vehicle while driving. The alternator produces hundreds of AMPs of current and most of it is wasted. If you drive an hour to work, then thats 2 hours of free mining.

Not true.

The output of the alternator is not free.  You are converting gasoline into electrical power.  If you add an electrical load to the alternator by adding the mining equipment you will burn more gasoline than if you did not load the alternator.

Bottom line is that putting the mining equipment in your car will increase your gas consumption and decrease your gas mileage in three ways:

Increased weight for your gas engine to push around while you are driving
Increased gas consumption due to the load on the alternator for the electricity you are using to mine
Increased gas consumption due to the increased need for air conditioning in the car

[Oleg326756]

I know here in Ontario, Canada people are having huge issues with the price of electricity. If you heat with electricity you can expect anything from $350-900+ just for one month.

Why wouldn't you direct the exhaust heat from your mining operations towards warming up your house then? It would reduce your heating costs (if you are heating with electricity anyway) and thus make your mining operations more profitable. Since I had started mining bitcoin in my apartment, I put my electric space heater to storage. AND I keep my window open – amidst the Swedish winter, mind you.

Good luck!

[Chris!]

I checked the "Power Spout" you mentioned on Google. It's really good for those who live near running streams and rivers, but most people do not...

I do so that's where the thought came from really.

Why wouldn't you direct the exhaust heat from your mining operations towards warming up your house then? It would reduce your heating costs (if you are heating with electricity anyway) and thus make your mining operations more profitable. Since I had started mining bitcoin in my apartment, I put my electric space heater to storage. AND I keep my window open – amidst the Swedish winter, mind you.

Good luck!

I heat with natural gas. It's maybe $90-140/mo in the winter rather than the huge cost of electricity. If you live in a rural area your 'delivery charge' is huge. It's more than your usage costs in a lot of places (eg. You use $100 of electricity and it costs $130 to be 'delivered')  I don't mine bitcoins because I would just be hemorrhaging cash.

Only way where you actually can get "free" power is connect your miners to your vehicle while driving. The alternator produces hundreds of AMPs of current and most of it is wasted. If you drive an hour to work, then thats 2 hours of free mining.

Not true.

The output of the alternator is not free.  You are converting gasoline into electrical power.  If you add an electrical load to the alternator by adding the mining equipment you will burn more gasoline than if you did not load the alternator.

Bottom line is that putting the mining equipment in your car will increase your gas consumption and decrease your gas mileage in three ways:

Increased weight for your gas engine to push around while you are driving
Increased gas consumption due to the load on the alternator for the electricity you are using to mine
Increased gas consumption due to the increased need for air conditioning in the car

My thoughts exactly. It would make the car less efficient. A better idea would be to have something very light that could somehow turn heat into energy. That's what the first link in my OP goes over.

That powerspout is very cool indeed.

You can also gather a bit more electric with this new innovation of Elon Musk: Solar Roof.

https://www.tesla.com/solar

It is just a solar panel but it doesn't look as ugly as the common models and Elon says it will be cheaper to design a roof with those panels instead of regular tiles.

That's pretty extreme for me! I don't have the capital to put forth for that and wouldn't even want to look into how much it would cost to finance!

[leowonderful]

The investment factor is a big one, especially with power generation not directly related to electricity. Solar panels might be the best choice for you, honestly- if you're not willing to buy the powerspout (which I think isn't as it seems, it may underperform with a weak current or even with a strong current as most of these are tested in labs, etc)- and even that is pretty bad.

[BurtW]

heat into energy

This is already being done for you when you purchase electricity from the power company.  They convert heat from oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear fission, etc. into electricity.  This (thermodynamics) is one of the most well studied and well understood areas of science and engineering.  We have been converting heat into either locomotion or electricity for a long time and modern natural gas power generation is almost as efficient as it can theoretically be.

[Chris!]

heat into energy

This is already being done for you when you purchase electricity from the power company.  They convert heat from oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear fission, etc. into electricity.  This (thermodynamics) is one of the most well studied and well understood areas of science and engineering.  We have been converting heat into either locomotion or electricity for a long time and modern natural gas power generation is almost as efficient as it can theoretically be.

Well yes I got that haha I only meant having a small device within the hood of your car absorbing heat and storing it for energy. Either way there are a ton more efficient ways to go about getting cheap / free electricity in some better way.