Bitcoin could enable humanity to take the next step in energy production and usage through the capabilities it unlocks.
This is an opinion article by Ruda Pellini, co-founder and president of Arthur Mining.
The world is no longer the same — it is constantly changing. And this transformation is happening increasingly faster. In reality, the “new normal” is a constant transformation and the only certainty is change.
The Information Age arrived and with that several concepts had to be updated so as not to be destroyed by the new. Paradigm shifts are taking place all around us and anyone who doesn’t understand this will quickly fall behind.
The changes that bitcoin has already brought and will continue to bring to the world are not just monetary. We are facing a new energy revolution as well. And anyone who doesn’t keep up to date with new trends will be disrupted.
Thinking in this context, I have separated seven trends in the energy market to help you anticipate what is on the horizon and approaching quickly.
The transition to renewable energy has reached a point of no return. As time goes on, this sector will become increasingly efficient. Today, in appropriate places, wind and solar energy are already the cheapest and most efficient ways of generating energy.
With popular pressure for a cleaner energy matrix and more investment in research, this trend will intensify.
Another issue is that the perception that fossil fuels are stable sources of energy has suffered a setback with the invasion of Ukraine and its aftermath. While the generation of renewable energy can usually be done at or near consumption points, oil and natural gas depend on major global producers, a complex supply chain and are more influenced by geopolitics.
The only fossil energy source that tends to remain competitive in the medium term as a form of energy generation is natural gas.
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A significant portion of energy production in Brazil is hydroelectric. In addition, in the country there are several reservoirs which are basically flat surfaces and, as Brazil is a tropical country, they have a high rate of sunlight.
In the future, these reservoirs will be used as solar generation parks and will be integrated into the hydroelectric substation, which will allow the integration and transmission of this generated energy to the electrical grid. In windy places, wind turbines will also be installed, further increasing the use of the enterprise. This logic does not apply only to Brazil, but to any countries where wind and solar energy are viable in the same region.
Until the beginning of the last decade, there was no distributed energy generation around. Since then, this form of generation has seen exponential adoption. This trend will continue for a long time, as penetration of this form of generation is still incipient.
In the future, individual consumers will be able to install their own solar panels on the roof of their homes or join small cooperatives, such as condominiums or clubs, and build small generators for electricity.
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Source: Portal Solar
In 2009, humanity invented a technology that allowed the monetization of stranded energy. The name of that technology? Bitcoin mining. Thanks to this process, it is now possible to convert energy into money, regardless of where that energy is located.
A clear example of this stranded energy monetization process is, “the burning of natural gas associated with oil exploration,” AKA flaring. Currently, most of this surplus gas is flared because it is not economically viable to use it. With bitcoin mining, this scenario has changed and there is a great tendency for this gas to be used to fuel bitcoin mining operations.
With that, a gas that was wasted became monetizable. An example of this logic is Exxon starting a pilot bitcoin mining project in 2021.
This same logic can be applied to any other form of minimally accessible stranded energy, such as, for example, with biogas and from dumps and landfills.
Currently, electrical grids are designed to produce energy to meet peak demand. However, there is no viable way to store this energy and it is idle at most times when demand is not at its peak.
As a way of monetizing surplus energy, bitcoin mining allows for the construction of oversized networks. These networks will not need to be anchored to calculations that focus on avoiding waste and targeting the moment of peak demand, which always incurs a risk of miscalculation and blackouts.
A consequence of this logic is that without the need to charge the final consumer for the production of surplus energy, the price of energy will decrease considerably.
We currently think of bitcoin mining and energy sectors as two independent sectors, but in the future they will merge.
The characteristics of bitcoin mining make this activity attractive for the energy sector, which is observable in its incipiency. The logic presented in the item above implies that power generators will adopt bitcoin mining as a way to monetize their idle energy.
The consequences of the existence of a technology that makes it possible to monetize idle and stranded energy are broad and profound.
Currently, human beings fail to take advantage of a significant portion of the energy they produce because it is not feasible to transport and store this energy. Thanks to bitcoin mining, this logic will be reversed.
Several energy sources in remote locations will become economically viable. Two clear examples of this are:
The absence of a consumer market near these locations prevented these energy sources from being used by humanity. With the invention of a technology that allows the monetization of idle energy, this dynamic has changed.
This also implies that the increase in demand for solar panels, wind turbines and other materials needed for energy generation will generate more research and innovation in the sector and, consequently, make this equipment cheaper.
Finally, it is worth remembering that energy is the only universal currency. In other words, there is no poverty, but energy poverty. Likewise, having access to more energy will unlock a great revolution in humanity.
Our species has already made two major evolutionary leaps related to unlocking different ways of using energy:
1. When we mastered fire and learned to cook, we started to ingest more calories in less time and with that our brain developed.
2. When we started to access energy stored and concentrated over millions of years by geological processes, the so-called fossil fuels, we became an industrial society and our population exploded.
The monetization of idle and stranded energy capacity, whether solar in deserts, winds or geothermal potential on volcanic islands, will allow us to take the third evolutionary leap in terms of energy use.
The world of tomorrow will be a world with an abundance of energy, and therefore, an abundance of resources.
This is a guest post by Ruda Pellini. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.
