Yes you read the headline correctly. Yes, this thesis is supported by the scientific consensus (14 of the last 16 papers on Bitcoin and energy endorse Bitcoin mining’s ability to aid climate action. There has to date, never been an article to synthesise all that peer research, the case studies and the Whitepapers, and come up with an overall thesis for Bitcoin’s importance to Climate Action. This article makes a first humble attempt to do so.
It is possible you may have heard about Bitcoin mining having negative environmental impacts such as excessive emissions, water use and e-waste. It’s important that as a reader you know that such claims have now been systematically debunked, both in and firsthand evidence to the contrary, and in numerous peer reviewed publications including Sai and Vranken, 2023.
If you’d like to acquaint yourself with the myth-dispelling first, we’d recommend you pause to read our article “Is Bitcoin good or bad for the environment? I’m confused” first, then come back to this piece on why Bitcoin is critical to addressing climate change.
There are four significant technological challenges that those in the climate movement face in enabling faster climate action:
1. Remove bottlenecks to getting more renewable energy onto the Grid
This in turn has four sub-challenges, that must be resolved:
- reduce interconnection queues
- reduce wasted solar and wind energy and slash curtailment fees
- raise flexible energy generation demand
- slash the 8.1 year payback period for solar and wind generation facilities
2. Replace Fossil fuel based heart with electrically based Heat
3. Increase the speed and profitability of R&D into new renewable energy sources
4. End carbon-intensive environmental practices such as Gas Peaker Plant utilization, methane venting and methane flaring
This paper will examine, using existing case studies and research, how Bitcoin mining is addressing each of the four categories, and how Bitcoin mining is likely to be a major, in some cases the major, catalyst for climate action in each category.
1. Remove bottlenecks to getting more renewable energy onto the Grid
1.1 The impact on the renewable transition of each challenge
1.1.1 Interconnection Queues
Lengthy interconnection queues delay renewable projects from connecting to the grid due to outdated infrastructure, regulatory bottlenecks, and limited grid capacity. These delays, often spanning years, stall deployment and increase costs, deterring investment in new solar and wind installations.
1.1.2 Wasted Solar/Wind Energy and Curtailment Fees
Intermittent renewable generation can exceed grid demand, forcing operators to curtail excess energy. This waste reduces project revenue, while curtailment fees penalize producers. Combined, these two factors undermine the economic viability of renewables and discouraging further development.
1.1.3 Lack of Flexible Demand or Demand Response
Renewables require grids to balance variable supply with adaptable demand. Lack of flexible demand ( industries that can adjust usage) or demand response programs results in grid instability, making it harder to justify expanding renewables without risking grid reliability. Flexible consumers provide grid operators with the confidence to be able to increase the amount of variable renewable energy generation on a grid, knowing they have a demand-side shock-absorber in place.
1.1.4 Long Payback Periods for Solar/Wind Facilities
High upfront costs and slow returns (often 8–10+ years) limit cash flow for reinvestment. Extended payback periods deter investors and slow the scaling of renewable projects, delaying the transition from fossil fuels.
1.2 How Bitcoin mining aleviates each renewable grid transition challenges
By acting as a flexible, location-agnostic energy buyer, Bitcoin mining can reduce bottlenecks in renewable energy deployment, cut waste, and incentivize the construction of new renewable energy infrastructure.
Let’s explore how Bitcoin mining achieves this through four key mechanisms: reducing interconnection queues, minimizing wasted energy, raising flexible energy demand, and shortening the payback period for renewable energy projects.
1.2.1 Reduce Renewable Energy Interconnection Queues
One of the biggest challenges in deploying renewable energy is the lengthy interconnection queue process. In the U.S. alone, there are over 2,000 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects waiting to be connected to the grid, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. These projects often face delays of several years due to regulatory hurdles, grid capacity constraints, and the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.
Bitcoin mining can help alleviate this bottleneck by providing a flexible customer for renewable energy projects. Unlike other electricity consumers, miners can set up operations near renewable energy sites, bypassing the need for grid interconnection altogether. This allows energy producers to start generating revenue immediately, rather than waiting years for approval. For example, in West Texas, Bitcoin miners have partnered with wind farms to monetize excess energy that would otherwise be stranded due to grid constraints. By reducing the financial and logistical barriers to renewable energy deployment, Bitcoin mining accelerates the adoption of clean energy, a finding that was endorsed by You et al, 2023 and Menati et al, 2023.
1.2.2 Reduce Wasted Solar and Wind Energy and Slash Curtailment Fees
Renewable energy sources like solar and wind are inherently intermittent, meaning they generate energy only when the sun shines or the wind blows. This intermittency often leads to overproduction during peak generation periods, forcing grid operators to curtail (waste) excess energy. In 2020, California curtailed over 1.5 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of solar and wind energy—enough to power 150,000 homes for a year. This wasted energy represents lost revenue for renewable energy producers and undermines the economic viability of clean energy projects.
Bitcoin mining can act as a “energy sink,” absorbing this excess energy and converting it into economic value. For instance, in China’s Sichuan province, hydropower plants have partnered with Bitcoin miners to utilize surplus energy during the rainy season, reducing curtailment and generating additional revenue. Similarly, in West Texas, Bitcoin miners have tapped into excess wind energy that would otherwise go to waste. By monetizing curtailed energy, Bitcoin mining not only reduces waste but also improves the financial sustainability of renewable energy projects.
1.2.3 Raise Flexible Energy Generation Demand
Saul Griffiths, a leading energy expert and author of Electrify: An Optimists Playbook for our Clean Energy Future, argues that flexible energy demand is essential for incentivizing the construction of new renewable energy infrastructure. Unlike traditional industries, which require a constant and predictable energy supply, Bitcoin mining is highly flexible. Miners can scale their operations up or down in response to energy availability, making them ideal partners for renewable energy producers.
This flexibility creates a symbiotic relationship between Bitcoin miners and renewable energy developers. For example, during periods of low energy demand (e.g., sunny afternoons or windy nights), miners can ramp up operations, providing a steady revenue stream for energy producers. Conversely, during peak demand periods, miners can power down, freeing up energy for the grid. This dynamic helps stabilize the grid and encourages the development of more renewable energy capacity. In places like Norway, where hydropower dominates the energy mix, Bitcoin miners have become key players in balancing supply and demand, ensuring that renewable energy remains profitable and scalable.
1.2.4 Slash the Payback Period for Solar and Wind Generation Facilities
The high upfront costs of renewable energy projects often result in long payback periods, discouraging investment. According to a recent peer-reviewed study, the average payback period for solar and wind facilities is 8.1 years. However, Bitcoin mining can reduce this payback period to 3.5 years by providing a reliable and lucrative revenue stream for energy producers.
But these are not just academic theoretical possibilities. Indeed academia has lagged behind a large volume of real-world projects that have already integrated Bitcoin mining with renewable energy in order to increase the payback time.
For example, Deutsche Telecom, Germany’s largest telco has begun using Bitcoin mining to monetize its otherwise wasted wind and solar power. It hopes to use the increased revenue to make solar and wind production more profitable, and reinvest the profits into more renewable generation. Tepco, Japan’s largest Utility company also recently announced a project to begin using Bitcoin mining on its wasted renewable energy. It’s goal is to further reduce waste of renewable electricity by using Bitcoin mining’s time-of-day agnostic properties to use solar/wind that otherwise would have been curtailed.
By improving the economics of renewable energy projects, Bitcoin mining helps unlock the capital needed to build more solar, wind, and hydropower facilities. These real-world examples highlight how Bitcoin mining is not just a consumer of energy but a strategic partner in the global transition to a sustainable energy future.
2. Replace Fossil fuel based heat with electrically based Heat
2.1 Why it matters
According to the IEA, 50% of all the world’s energy is used for heating.
Most of that heat is fossil fuel based. In parallel to greening the grid, prominent environmental campaigners and energy experts such as Saul Griffiths in his book Electrify Everything state that we must also electrify as many industrial processes as possible, with heating being the single largest candidate for rapid electrification.
While Bitcoin mining cannot replace the intense heat of a coal furnace, there are significant amounts of other heat forms that the exhaust heat of Bitcoin miners can replace and is now replacing. The potential uses for heat from Bitcoin mining are limited only by imagination. Some of these are one-off applications, whereas others such as delivering district heating to 2% of Finland’s population are already operating at a significant scale.
The first reported examples of heat recycling from Bitcoin mining was in Canada as early as 2018.
2.2 One-off applications that could scale in the future
In 2023, Shelter Point Distillery in Campbell River, Canada, created the ‘world’s first sustainable digital tumbler‘ by attaching a Bitcoin miner to provide heat for the whiskey ageing process.Genesis Digital Assets (GDA) launched a Bitcoin mining heat repurposing project in Norsjö, Sweden, using renewable hydro-energy. The recycled heat is used to reduce the costs of preventing snow-cleaning trucks from freezing in an area prone to harsh winters.
Constellation Heating uses its Star Heater to repurpose heat to maintain pool temperatures. So warm pools, and no energy goes to waste.
A car and truck wash in Idaho replaced its fossil-fuel based gas heating system with a Bitcoin mining heating system, using a Fog Hashing B6 immersion tank and Bitcoin ASIC miners to generate heat.
When this New York Bath House started using Bitcoin heat to heat its water, it drew attention to how common the practice of using Bitcoin mining to heat water is now becoming.
2.3 Heat-recycling applications already occurring at scale
District heating and water heating: MARA is now warming a town of ~80,000 residents in Finland using heat generated from Bitcoin mining operations. This is possible through district heating which involves centrally heating water using bitcoin mining-generated heat and distributing it through underground pipes to local buildings.
Residential space heating: Home heating has grown from a fledgling industry in 2021 to a competitive market in 2025 with multiple vendors offering options to heat homes using electric heaters that mine Bitcoin in parallel, including 21energy, Heatbit and D-Central.
Drying Lumber requires huge amounts of energy at a constant rate, but not so high as to “cook” the wood, making it a perfect candidate for Bitcoin mining exhaust heating. This started at scale in Norway, and is now being investigated in other countries.
Heating for Horticulture: Bitcoin Brabant, led by Bert de Groot, has been helping decarbonize the greenhouse industry in the Netherlands, using solar-powered Bitcoin mining to deliver heat for the greenhouses. This reduces the greenhouse industry’s reliance on natural gas.
There are already many such greenhouses being heated by Bitcoin mining, and this use has the potential to scale to help industrial greenhouses wean themselves off the need for natural-gas based heating.
Fish farming: Meanwhile, in Germany, there’s the Green Bitcoin Farm which harvests solar energy and uses it to operate high-performance computers in the Bitcoin network. They then use the waste heat generated by the ASIC miners for drying medicinal herbs, indoor rearing of edible fish, and vertical farming. Using Bitcoin recycled heat to heat the water for fish farms is also a common use in China.
3. Increase the speed and profitability of R&D into new renewable energy project
3.1 OTEC
Bitcoin mining has been responsible for reviving mothballed renewable energy technologies such as OTEC, that the Reagan administration stopped funding in the 1980s. Unlike Solar and Wind technologies which are intermittent, OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Technology) is able to deliver reliable baseload electricity.
OTEC however suffered from a lack of funding, because it is very expensive to develop novel offshore energy generation capacity in the tropics which is grid-tethererd. In addition to the challenge that offshore wind faces in supplying power back to the grid, OTEC must also develop hurricane resistance.
Bitcoin mining on seabarges removes these constraints by providing a consumer of OTEC energy in situ. This means that the next scale-up R&D effort for OTEC is suddenly economically viable, because the operation will not need the considerable cost of being grid-tethered and made hurricane-proof. While eventually the aim of OTEC is that it will deliver power back to the grid, Bitcoin mining is playing a critical role in catalyzing the economic viability of the scale-up phase of R&D that prior to Bitcoin mining had been mothballed since the 1980s.
OceanBit, who is developing OTEC (Ocean Thermal Energy Technology) was recently profiled in Forbes Magazine. Bitcoin mining is according to CEO and Oceanographer Nate Harnon the only reason they were able to dust the mothballs off OTEC and start working on making OTEC economically viable.
3.2 Renewable Microgrids
Gridless Compute, a Nairobi-based startup, is tackling one of Africa’s most persistent challenges: bringing reliable, renewable energy to remote communities. Traditional microgrid projects often fail due to high upfront costs and lack of consistent demand. Gridless Compute’s innovation? Pairing solar and hydropower microgrids with Bitcoin mining to create a guaranteed, flexible energy buyer.
In Malawi and Kenya, Gridless has deployed solar-powered microgrids that prioritize electricity for local households and businesses during the day. At night, excess energy powers Bitcoin miners, generating revenue to subsidize community tariffs and fund grid maintenance. This model ensures profitability without raising consumer costs. For example, a 500 kW solar microgrid in rural Kenya now serves 1,200 residents and mines Bitcoin during off-peak hours, earning $15,000 monthly. These funds have financed grid expansions to neighboring villages.
Academic studies have long argued that demand flexibility is key to microgrid viability. Gridless proves this by using Bitcoin mining as a “digital battery,” monetizing surplus energy that would otherwise go unused. As CEO Erik Hersman notes, “Bitcoin mining turns stranded energy into economic lifelines.” With plans to deploy 20 microgrids across sub-Saharan Africa by 2025, Gridless is demonstrating how Bitcoin can democratize energy access while accelerating decarbonization.
4. End carbon-intensive environmental practices such as Gas Peaker Plant utilization, methane venting and methane flaring
4.1 Gas Peaker Plants
Gas peaker plants, notorious for high emissions and idle-time inefficiencies, are being obviated in Texas thanks to Bitcoin mining’s demand flexibility. Following Winter Storm Uri in 2021, ERCOT CEO Brad Jones integrated Bitcoin miners into grid stability programs. By 2024, 3 GW of mining capacity participated in demand response, allowing ERCOT to avoid building 3 GW of new peaker plants proposed by Berkshire Hathaway—saving Texans $18 billion.
During extreme weather, miners power down within seconds, freeing electricity for critical needs. For instance, during the July 2023 heatwave, Texas miners curtailed 1.2 GW, equivalent to three peaker plants’ output. Peer-reviewed studies by Bruno et al. (2023) confirm that Bitcoin mining eliminates peaker plant reliance while reducing annual carbon emissions by 48.67 million metric tons. ERCOT’s success demonstrates that flexible load resources like Bitcoin mining are not just alternatives to peaker plants—they are superior, cost-effective replacements.
4.2 Turning Landfill Methane into a Climate Asset
Landfills account for 17% of global methane emissions, a gas 84x more potent than CO2. Traditional solutions, like flaring or building gas pipelines, are often impractical because very few commercial operations can co-locate next to a landfill, or prohibitively expensive due to the cost required to upgrade the grid to handle additional electricity upload. Bitcoin mining offers a breakthrough: mobile mining units can convert vented methane into electricity on-site, eliminating emissions and generating revenue.
Bitcoin mining companies like NodalPower and Vespene Energy deploy modular data centers at landfills, using methane to power miners. For example, a landfill in Fresno, California, reduced methane emissions by 92% while earning $1.2 million annually from Bitcoin mining—funds reinvested into community programs. As noted in vented landfill gas.pdf, 75% of landfills lack viable energy buyers; Bitcoin’s location-agnostic demand solves this. Municipalities save millions in flare maintenance costs, and methane becomes a climate asset rather than a liability. There are currently five Bitcoin mining operations operating on landfills, who are turning trash into digital gold. It would only take 35 mid-sized venting landfills with Bitcoin-mining powergeneration operations on them to take the entire Bitcoin network carbon-negative.
4.3 Ending Oilfield Flaring with Bitcoin
Gas flaring, which wastes methane and emits toxic pollutants, persists globally despite World Bank efforts to stop almost all flaring by 2030. To date have found few ways to make good that intenition, with flaring in regions including the middle east having recently been shown to cause more toxic gases than previously feared.
Bitcoin mining is proving to be the most scalable solution.
In North Dakota for example, Crusoe’s projects reduced flaring by 99% at partnered sites, preventing 2.5 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually. Similarly, Upstream Data’s Canadian operations have cut flaring by 1.8 million tons yearly. It is for this reason that the World Economic Forum recently praised Crusoe’s Bitcoin mining operation for helping the UN in its efforts to reduce methane emissions. Yet NGOs like Sierra Club continue to reflexively dismiss measurable progress such as this as “greenwashing”, saying that any company partnering with Oil&Gas to reduce flaring is “perpetuating the profits of oil companies”
Our earlier article on Gas Flaring highlights, this argument is not only fundamentally flawed, but it has led to the elongation of the practice of gas flaring. Without Bitcoin, the alternative is continued flaring. However, by monetizing waste gas, Bitcoin mining uniquely aligns economic incentives with environmental progress.
5. The Carbon Debt of Climatetech
According to the Digital Assets Research Institute, Bitcoin mining currently contributes approximately 40 Mt CO2-eq of emissions annually, a figure that underscores the importance of contextualizing its environmental impact. However, this challenge is not unique to Bitcoin mining. All climate technologies, particularly in their nascent stages, carry initial carbon footprints as they scale and optimize. For example, the photovoltaic (PV) industry, despite its critical role in decarbonizing energy systems, did not achieve a net-positive carbon balance until 2011—57 years after the first solar cell was invented in 1954. PV manufacturing continues to this day to rely on energy-intensive processes and coal furnaces to melt silicon during the manufacture process, however it is widely accepted that the photovoliatic industry is net emission producing, because it now reduces many times more emissions than it creates.
Similarly, Bitcoin mining’s emissions must be weighed against its demonstrable capacity to accelerate renewable energy adoption and reduce potent greenhouse gases like methane. Projects such as Crusoe Energy’s 99% reduction in flaring (preventing 2.5 Mt CO2-eq annually) and Demand Response programs in Texas which obviated the need for additional Gas Peaker Plants highlight Bitcoin’s role as a mitigator, not only as an emitter.
A balanced evaluation of Bitcoin mining, as with any emerging climate technology, requires assessing both its current footprint and its future potential. Just as early solar investments paved the way for today’s carbon-negative PV industry, Bitcoin mining’s ability to fund renewable infrastructure, eliminate methane emissions, and stabilize grids may ultimately yield net reductions far exceeding its operational emissions. Policymakers and environmental stakeholders must adopt this balanced lens, looking not only at current emissions but future potential. A good rule of thumb is this: if our rubric for evaluating a nascent technology’s climate impact would have resulted in solar panels being banned in the 1990s (when the photovoltaic industry created considerably more emissions than it abated), then it is likely to be a flawed methodology.
Conclusion
Conclusion: Bitcoin Mining is Indispensable to Climate Action
Bitcoin mining is not merely a “nice to have” in the fight against climate change—it is a necessary catalyst for accelerating the renewable transition and mitigating environmental harm. The evidence is irrefutable:
- Resolving Grid Bottlenecks: By monetizing stranded energy, Bitcoin mining has enabled stalled renewable projects like Layer1’s 32 MW wind integration in Texas and Mawson’s 100 MW hydropower partnership in Tasmania to bypass multi-year interconnection delays. This flexibility slashes payback periods from 8+ years to 3.5 years, unlocking capital for rapid renewable expansion.
- Eliminating Energy Waste: Projects like Crusoe Energy’s 99% flaring reduction in North Dakota and Sichuan’s hydropower-Bitcoin partnerships demonstrate mining’s unique ability to convert wasted energy into revenue, averting 2.5 million tons of CO2-equivalent emissions annually.
- Displacing Fossil Fuels: In Texas, 3 GW of Bitcoin mining demand response displaced $18 billion in gas peaker plants, while MARA’s district heating in Finland and Bitcoin Brabant’s greenhouses in the Netherlands showcase how mining’s waste heat replaces fossil-fueled heating at scale.
- Reviving Stalled Climate Tech: Bitcoin mining resurrected OTEC, a baseload renewable technology mothballed since the 1980s, through OceanBit’s offshore projects. Similarly, Gridless Compute’s solar microgrids in Kenya and Malawi prove mining funds energy access in underserved regions.
Critics dismissing Bitcoin’s role ignore measurable outcomes: obviating the need for gas peaker plants (Bruno et al., 2023), reducing vented landfill emissions, heating 2% of Finland’s population, and 1.2 GW of grid stability during extreme weather, while slashing the payback period for 50MW solar farms. These results are not theoretical—they are operational today.
Bitcoin mining’s ability to align economic incentives with environmental progress—turning methane liabilities into assets, funding renewables, and stabilizing grids—makes it indispensable. To reject this tool based on prejudice, or past poor data and research, is to choose stagnation over solutions. The data is clear: Bitcoin mining is not optional, but an essential part of climate action, a once-unthinkable stance that both the cumulative weight of Case Studies and the scientific community is now largely in support of.