Mining and Solar Electricity

[Yottabyte]

solar has had a more harmful impact on humanity overall [than nuclear].

To quote something I read somewhere:

feel free to convince me ... with some real numbers.

Those statistics are readily available information... use google. Cost estimates of installing solar power in ones home also readily available, which is why I say it doesn't make sense, but thought maybe you had some secret, not so readily available knowledge to share.

[TooDumbForBitcoin]

solar has had a more harmful impact on humanity overall [than nuclear].

To quote something I read somewhere:

feel free to convince me ... with some real numbers.

Those statistics are readily available information... use google. 

Translation:  "I don't have any real numbers".

[Yottabyte]

I'm not going to do your research for you dude, just google "solar deaths per THw" or "solar vs nuclear" tons of info come up including articles like this with with lots of "real numbers" for you to look at: http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull211/21104091117.pdf


All safety and environmental issues aside, installing solar just makes very little economical sense for anyone in crypto mining... Now you can either A) prove me wrong or B) divert the topic again.

[Yottabyte]

btw OPs idea of setting rigs up on existing solar plants with surplus power could work, but would require a lot of logistics and I think one of the hardest parts would be keeping up with the hardware advancements in miners. Maybe just market a tutorial to your customers that covers the option of crypto mining with their unused electric, it would add value to your service and leave all the logistical and hardware decisions to the customer.

Posted From bitcointalk.org Android App

[bitco.in]

A lot of solar electricity used to be wasted, but battery-based storage is more advanced now, so people will be less willing to share.

[phillipsjk]

...  There's been a trend in solar to "oversize" systems by 20-30%.  By this i mean, if a customer is using 10,000 kWh/yr they may purchase a system that's generating between 12,000 and 13,000 kWh/yr.
... Over the course of a year the PV system overproduces 2,000 kWh of electricity.  As opposed to selling that electricity back to the utility company at say $0.04/kWh it may be better to drop off a "bit coin rig" at the customers house that's capable of using up the extra 2,000 kWh in the course of say a week.

You are over-complicating it. As has been mentioned, Bitcoin miners are left running 24/7 to maximize ROI. Lower hash-rate miners will also be cheaper, and (hopefully) use less power when running.

2000 kWh/year works out to ~231 Watts of continuous load. One of the ASICminer cubes may fit the bill there (but are not very efficient (240W, 30Ghash/s+controlling computer needed)). If the reconciliation is done at year-end, it does not really matter if the load is present all year or not.

Many of the new miners draw as much power as possible. So you may want to look into modular ones. The popular Antminer S1 draws about 360W.

[softron]

Great idea it could greatly increase profit for miners

[cozk]

FLASHNEWS

JUST IN

There is no sunlight at night. Mine the day only ? Don't think.

10 000W on a battery all night long ? Don't think.

[quakefiend420]

Solar electricity sounds awesome until you actually go to buy it... for 2000watt AC you are looking at around $5,000 before installation, and then there is maintenance, battery banks, etc.... In fact the idea that any large population can use solar or wind to get any meaningful amount of electricity is pure propaganda/fantasy, solar and wind combined provide like 1% of the worlds energy and the process to create solar panels is more damaging to the environment and humans than nuclear... If you have the $ to put solar on the roof of a home more power to you, its not a terrible investment and it could pay off many years down the road, but if you are thinking of it as a way of cutting costs of mining short term... think again

Did you even read past the title?  He's talking about customers who are already installing solar systems that are capable of providing more power than the homeowner uses.  

[Phosphorous]

Maybe I can provide some insight. I installed an 8kw system on my home in Phoenix with an ideal (south-facing) installation. My power bills and stats are at http://iwentsolar.com for those who are interested. I basically installed the system myself and maximized gov't and power company incentives at the time (they are much lower now) so the system cost was extremely low. They system has paid for itself and I am now all-profit.

My power plan has a rate for on-peak (daytime) use (noon-7pm) and off peak, with off-peak being about $.027/kwh and on-peak averaging ~$.185kwh if I recall correctly (averaging different rates in summer vs winter). On-peak production counts against on-peak use, and off-peak counts against off-peak use. Every year I generate about an extra 1500kwh of on-peak power and every month I pay for a little bit of off-peak power. APS (my power company) bought back last year's excess on-peak  production at the rate of about $.027/kwh. There are other variables like the demand fees which charge extra based on peak power demand that I have ignored as it is too difficult to really figure that out.

Before beginning bitcoin mining earlier this week, I crunched the numbers for an Antminer S1 estimating 400W consumption and calculated that with my system, my annual operating electricity cost to be about $90/year for the first unit because it will consume about 1000kwh of the excess on-peak production per year. A second unit would of course cost more because I will only have about 500kwh excess production for it to use. I calculated my costs if I had no solar at $250/year for each Antminer S1. So my oversized solar system will be providing about $160 of mining value.

Now, I'm not sure that I would make a solar system buying decision based on this, but it did influence me to start bitcoin mining. With a leased system, the benefit would be a fraction of the $160 and hardly worth mentioning, IMO.

PS. All of my numbers are from memory so they might be slightly off, I don't have my notes anymore.

[bananahunter67]

What about perpeto mobile ? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AyU2MOJ_10

[Huangww]

boring.I am despressed about bitcoin.

[Huangww]

miningmachine

[JamesSchofield]

Hi.  I need some experienced mining folks to give me some feedback.  I work for one of the largest residential solar installers in Arizona and we are also in California.  Our cash payment customers are getting their electricity between $0.04 and $0.06/kWh.  There's been a trend in solar to "oversize" systems by 20-30%.  By this i mean, if a customer is using 10,000 kWh/yr they may purchase a system that's generating between 12,000 and 13,000 kWh/yr.  Personally, I don't like to oversize systems because the "extra" electricity is sold back to the utility company at the end of the year at "wholesale" rates (read: less than what they are paying for the electricity).  It occurred to me that bitcoin mining may be a great way to go for some of these homeowners.  For example:  Over the course of a year the PV system overproduces 2,000 kWh of electricity.  As opposed to selling that electricity back to the utility company at say $0.04/kWh it may be better to drop off a "bit coin rig" at the customers house that's capable of using up the extra 2,000 kWh in the course of say a week.

Questions:
Is it feasible to install a rig of that size at someones home?
How many coins would it likely mint?
From your experience mining bitcoins would profit sharing with the home owner be preferable to say $0.07/ kWh?
Considering hardware costs, is this even a worthwhile endeavor?

Cheap clean free energy is the only way to go in the future for mining purposes.
The power requirements today are rediculous.

[ViewSonic]

I would love to have solar devices on my roof and would definitately use it for mining bitcoin. Unfortunately in my city there is so few sun...

[fancyboy]

I can't imagine how much panels should be, to keep working even 1 computer with 4 video cards like Radeon HD7970..I believe the area would be like football one..

[Epiphany]

Solar is a great idea for Bitcoin mining (or any altcoin mining for that matter). But don't forget the additional incentive that is also available now, submit the claim for SolarCoins. You get one SLR for every MWh of solar electricity generated. This goes to the resident for systems under 20 kW (not the owner of the panels if the system is leased).

Claim them here: solarcoin.org/redeem Initial claims go back to 2010 if you've already got a system installed.

[TooDumbForBitcoin]

You get one SLR for every MWh of solar electricity generated.

A typical 4kWpdc roof-mounted grid-tied system at 30-degree latitude will produce 6.5MWh annually, for an expected 98MWh over 15 years.  (The system will last longer, but 15 years is for comparison to the typical lease period).

The purchase price for such a system is USD 14,000 +/- 10%.  I'm guessing a 15-yr lease for such a system is USD 6000 up front, plus USD 50 monthly for 180 months.

So about USD 150 per SLR for the leased system, USD 110 for the purchased system, which can be expected to last at least 20 years.

Present worth, future worth, inflation, interest, all left out of this simplified analysis.  (Bitcoin isn't the only thing I'm too dumb for.)

PS  6500 annual kWh is enough to run a 750 GH/s rig 24/7.

[atinski]

which is the best graphic to mining bitcoin

[Boris-The-Blade]