El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> Why not use volcanic energy to mine BTC? The question is, does El Salvador have the technology to extract energy from a volcano?

Just Reading through the posts within the first page of this thread is sufficient to see that this geothermal energy exploitation is one of the country’s important energy origins, covering around 25% of the country’s needs:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5363058.msg58053825#msg58053825
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5363058.msg58054091#msg58054091

Not only that, but it’s been used as a source for energy there for at least 20 years. This is all really a publicity stunt, being hyped here, there and beyond by people and media picturing a node plugged into a lava stream.

[1713528655]

1713528655

[1713528655]

1713528655

[1713528655]

1713528655

[1713528655]

1713528655

[TimeTeller]

<…> Why not use volcanic energy to mine BTC? The question is, does El Salvador have the technology to extract energy from a volcano?

Just Reading through the posts within the first page of this thread is sufficient to see that this geothermal energy exploitation is one of the country’s important energy origins, covering around 25% of the country’s needs:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5363058.msg58053825#msg58053825
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5363058.msg58054091#msg58054091

Not only that, but it’s been used as a source for energy there for at least 20 years. This is all really a publicity stunt, being hyped here, there and beyond by people and media picturing a node plugged into a lava stream.

But let us admit, this is really a good publicity stunt especially as they embrace bitcoin as legal tender.
I am not complaining because this is good for the crypto market in general.
Their volcanic energy has been established for decades, that's true. But using this to mine bitcoin, is a new idea to most.
So this is the reason why the media is making it as a big news.
Now, other countries with active volcanoes will have an idea where to put their extra energy and maybe become more friendly towards crypto.

[alviemery96]

It's smart to use that. Geothermal energy from volcanoes can be used to power the miners and mining operations there, which is ideal as it is a renewable energy source. I'm not sure how efficient they can be, but lower cost BTC mining is perfect.
When I look at El Salvador's geoinfo, they have a huge amount of volcanoes surrounding them and this is a great resource and doesn't have any impact on the environment, this is a wonderfully clever creation.

[Zilon]

El Salvador has become a house hold name in the crypto world registering his footprint In the sands of crypto times. Using volcanic enery instead of electrical power supply which has been the main source of power for miners  will reduce the high cost of power useage during mining reducing it's cost and making their main source of power interrupted. As a renewable energy source it can also be conserved for multiple useage

[Amejoaquim]

It's pretty green. Jan 2021 they reportedly generated ~95% of their electricity from renewable sources. So it would be pretty green as little of the electricity used for mining would be replaced by fossil fuels.

[stompix]

Their volcanic energy has been established for decades, that's true. But using this to mine bitcoin, is a new idea to most.
So this is the reason why the media is making it as a big news.
Now, other countries with active volcanoes will have an idea where to put their extra energy and maybe become more friendly towards crypto.

So you like it despite being false because it is good publicity!

And, nor the x time, it's nothing new even when it comes to bitcoin mining, miners in Iceland were doing this 6 years ago, and even the mainstream media was reporting, here is businessinsider and reuters.

So it's nothing new, the only difference is that while Iceland is self-sufficient when it comes to electricity Salvador it's not!

It's pretty green. Jan 2021 they reportedly generated ~95% of their electricity from renewable sources.

IRENA says 65%

Indeed you don't actually need volcanos, but those are a dead giveaway for geothermal sources. Japan has lots of them, and yet they went with Nuclear... This should have been started in the 60ies or something, they should all close those nuclear plants.

Japan has 3 times more geothermal power than Salvador.
The fact that it doesn't have more is because of the price and the size of the economy, you simply can't run the whole country on geothermal, for example, the entire potential of Salvador is at around 900 W, and this is the maximum capacity not economically feasible, by comparison, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear powerplant has had a capacity of 7,965, nearly 10! time more than the potential of Salvador!

[Artemis3]

They could have used volcanic energy to reduce its dependency on foreign fossils fuels, but instead they used it to mine Bitcoin.

Talk about wasted potential.

Talk about being ignorant. Who exactly is going to build the power plants, you?

By bringing foreign investors, they will build the plants to mine until it ceases to be profitable, then the country can have them...

Indeed you don't actually need volcanos, but those are a dead giveaway for geothermal sources. Japan has lots of them, and yet they went with Nuclear... This should have been started in the 60ies or something, they should all close those nuclear plants.

Japan has 3 times more geothermal power than Salvador.
The fact that it doesn't have more is because of the price and the size of the economy, you simply can't run the whole country on geothermal, for example, the entire potential of Salvador is at around 900 W, and this is the maximum capacity not economically feasible, by comparison, the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear powerplant has had a capacity of 7,965, nearly 10! time more than the potential of Salvador!

900 what? And where did you even get that figure? Just how many plants do you think you can build to tap power from a volcano, 1?
Japan CAN literally go pure geothermal (or combine with solar, tidal, wind, etc), its just not even funny how much potential is wasted. Just because they produce little doesn't mean they can't produce more. There is a lot of dark incentives and politics involved, so don't get me started how they ended with so many nuclear plants, its a thing of the 60ies, when everyone was praising the power of the atom...

[stompix]

900 what? And where did you even get that figure? Just how many plants do you think you can build to tap power from a volcano, 1?

From Salvador's government:
https://www.cne.gob.sv/tema/energias-renovables-2/energia-geotermica/

The geothermal potential shown in both tables is 644 MW and 147 MW, respectively, 791 MW in total. Given that the installed capacity for electricity generation from geothermal energy in El Salvador is currently 204.4 MW, the proportion of installed capacity with respect to geothermal potential is 25.8%.

Probably the researchers that have built those two powerplants and have explored the other sites know better than any of us how many plants you can have one volcano, don't you think?

Japan CAN literally go pure geothermal (or combine with solar, tidal, wind, etc), its just not even funny how much potential is wasted.

And you have any number to back this claim?
IRENA claims 23 GW,  potential!, Japan has 282! GW of installed electric capacity.

I expect your next reply to contain at least a figure with a source, not some wild claims like the previous!

[redsun114]

El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy, how cool is that? (no pun intended).

https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1442949756993490945

The source is the President himself through his twitter? What can you say about this move?

El Salvador paving the way for "volcanode", Lol.

It is the government so they can do whatever they want to do as long as they see it as the right source of energy for them to mine Bitcoin. There are so many ways they can mine Bitcoin and if they have checked this method and it seems like a good way to do that then they can go ahead with it. But, I don’t know much about making use of volcanic energy to mine Bitcoin and whether it's going to have any impact in the environment, I think that is very important for them to be considered.

These days we need to make sure that we are using green energy source or when we’re talking about mining or such. And by the way, El Salvador has been breaking records, if they should go ahead with this plan then they are going to be the first to do such.

[AakZaki]

It's smart to use that. Geothermal energy from volcanoes can be used to power the miners and mining operations there, which is ideal as it is a renewable energy source. I'm not sure how efficient they can be, but lower cost BTC mining is perfect.
When I look at El Salvador's geoinfo, they have a huge amount of volcanoes surrounding them and this is a great resource and doesn't have any impact on the environment, this is a wonderfully clever creation.

You need to know, geothermal energy produced by volcanic mountains cannot be renewed or forced to remain active. This is an unpredictable source of energy. It cannot be renewable because geothermal cannot be controlled or transferred like other renewable energies. El Salvador is indeed smart to use geothermal heat from volcanic mountains for Bitcoin mining, but the effects that will be generated must also be there, such as the ambient temperature that will continue to rise, the area around which of course trees must be cut down to make mining warehouses. Natural resources that are distributed like this will not burden conventional electricity and become a good alternative.

[yohananaomi]

El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy, how cool is that? (no pun intended).

https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1442949756993490945

The source is the President himself through his twitter? What can you say about this move?

El Salvador paving the way for "volcanode", Lol.

the government of El Salvador has indeed been serious about carrying out its determination in the development of bitcoin for the future. at a time of global crisis like now the government of El Salvador is looking for a loophole to overcome this situation by opening a bitcoin mine that uses volcanic energy, this should be an example for other countries so that the country can prevent an economic crisis in its country.

we should appreciate what has been done so far by the president of el savador in doing what is considered possible controversy by recognizing bitcoin as a legal tender. It wasn't long before buying enough bitcoins for the benefit of all for the glory of el savador.

now if the president does renewable innovation (volcanic energy) everyone should be able to imitate them, as you said that the government of el savador is serious about doing all that, with the aim of future economic development and of course it can't be instant to prove success.

If a country wants to advance its economic sector with renewable developments, it certainly cannot be blamed and the prospects for the future should be looked at, not now. because the results will be seen after all goes well and is useful.

[dunfida]

It's pretty green. Jan 2021 they reportedly generated ~95% of their electricity from renewable sources. So it would be pretty green as little of the electricity used for mining would be replaced by fossil fuels.

Actually energy issues about mining bitcoin or altcoins or something in related doesnt really have that extreme effects on what government is trying to picture or tell up to people.

They are just simply making out issues to make it look bad but actually it isnt really that bad but it is really great that they have come up something which do came from natural resource.

Doesnt only limit out on mining activity but of course they could apply on other benefits as well.

[wemakereview]

El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy, how cool is that? (no pun intended).

https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1442949756993490945

The source is the President himself through his twitter? What can you say about this move?

El Salvador paving the way for "volcanode", Lol.

Some people say that BTC mining is wasting energy, something that I do not agree at all! Because BTC mining brings us benefit and this is what exactly energy is for.
However, good idea El Salvador. A great move toward providing energy for BTC mining!

[Reatim]

El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy, how cool is that? (no pun intended).

https://twitter.com/nayibbukele/status/1442949756993490945

The source is the President himself through his twitter? What can you say about this move?

El Salvador paving the way for "volcanode", Lol.

Some people say that BTC mining is wasting energy, something that I do not agree at all! Because BTC mining brings us benefit and this is what exactly energy is for.
However, good idea El Salvador. A great move toward providing energy for BTC mining!

in deepest perspective it is indeed there are energy had been wasted in mining , while there are benefits from bitcoin of course.

But what we are looking and doing now is find a renewable energy and natural energy in which will support mining and the conventional energy will be segregated to the people.
 but Yes it is best that EL Salvador is doing their part after accepting bitcoin as their legal tender.

[DdmrDdmr]

What they’ve just done now at the geothermal station, is add a satellite equipment provided by Blockstream, in order to guarantee their ability to run their node and mine, regardless of whether their internet connection is up and running or not.

Quite a nice stunt implemented during the LaBitConf week event, which gives it all the more resonance. If anybody wants one at home, get ready to cash out somewhere between 500 $ and 900 $ …   

See (In Spanish):
https://twitter.com/BTCGandalf/status/1461169344872919040 (video with explanations from one of the president’s brothers)
https://twitter.com/NoticieroSLV/status/1461123134141128706

(in English):
https://www-criptonoticias-com.translate.goog/mineria/volcanes-espacio-mineros-el-salvador-conectan-bitcoin-via-satelite/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=nui
https://blockstream.com/2021/02/02/en-blockstream-provides-backup-satellite-broadcast-for-bitcoin-core-source-code/
https://store.blockstream.com/product-category/satellite_kits/
https://github.com/Blockstream/satellite/blob/master/doc/hardware.md#satellite-kit-comparison

[terrorJR]

this is something new because maybe my ignorance but this is my first time seeing something like this.
and this could be one of the initiators for some other countries who are still having problems with electricity about mining at least by using this there are few options and actually this is quite good and it will be interesting to see the progress

[stompix]

What they’ve just done now at the geothermal station, is add a satellite equipment provided by Blockstream, in order to guarantee their ability to run their node and mine, regardless of whether their internet connection is up and running or not.

Have they released any numbers lately on their mining operation?
English searches are just giving the same results from a month ago and this silence on the amount they have deployed is a bit surprising. Not that I would have expected them to get one exahash in this small time frame but still, some numbers.

I've read something about 300 units being installed, but that would be even with the best gear way too low, or at least low for the hype. It's not even one MW.

[mynonce]

El Salvador to mine bitcoin using Volcanic energy, how cool is that?

This is air pollution, they will ban it soon. 

https://www.fi.se/en/published/presentations/2021/crypto-assets-are-a-threat-to-the-climate-transition--energy-intensive-mining-should-be-banned/
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5370213.0

[DdmrDdmr]

<…> Have they released any numbers lately on their mining operation?
English searches are just giving the same results from a month ago and this silence on the amount they have deployed is a bit surprising. Not that I would have expected them to get one exahash in this small time frame but still, some numbers.

I've read something about 300 units being installed, but that would be even with the best gear way too low, or at least low for the hype. It's not even one MW.

I haven’t managed to see anything specific as to the number and type of asics being used, other than some initial vague references to terms such as "truck loads" or "various dozens", which doesn’t land anything concrete.

In terms of what’s actually been achieved so far, I’m also empty handed when trying to find a local update that goes beyond the 0,00483976 bitcoins reported after the first four days or so.

I wonder if there is a reason for going awol on these updates …

Edit: Around 300 mining equipments (Antminer S19, Whatsminer M30S)
see :https://www.criptonoticias.com/mineria/noti-hash-300-antminer-microbt-minan-bitcoin-volcanes-el-salvador/