How to mine cryptocurrencies and reuse the generated heat for profit

Mining cryptocurrencies always produce significant amounts of heat since mining rigs churn at their maximum capacity and their components heat up. Currently, the majority of operators use the air cooling capabilities to cool down the ASICs and prevent damage to the equipment. Immersion cooling is emerging as a novel solution that brings tremendous benefits and helps reuse the heat for beneficial uses.

Sustainability and environmental concerns are coming to the fore

In addition, sustainable mining seeks to recycle thermal energy and use it for different heating purposes. As an environmentally positive technology, immersion cooling considerably reduces a carbon footprint that is generated in mining since the heat can be reused for heating and other purposes. The “green” mining will come to the fore as cryptocurrencies turn into a more widely used form of value exchange and regulators apply more stringent requirements toward the industry.

How to cool the mining rigs: 3 methods

Commercial-grade mining operations and major farms have 3 methods at their disposal for cooling the machines.

• Passive cooling. Though this method is used for the equipment where the heat dissipates with ease, it’s not feasible for mining rigs and similar machines. Passive cooling is generally deployed in laptops to cool down chipsets, RAM modules and other tech pieces.

• Active cooling. The main method used to cool the mining equipment. Active cooling is designed to set up the air flow so that the heated elements are blown over and cooled down. In case of GPUs, the fans blow over the graphics processor. And for ASICs, there are two fans that create a steady air flow, rotating at the speeds of up to 6,000 rpm. With active cooling, it’s hard to “catch” the produced heat and convert it for beneficial uses. A major drawback of using the active cooling systems is that powerful fans generate excessive vibration, which has a negative effect on the machine’s lifetime.

• Immersion cooling. The mining equipment is submerged into the dielectric liquid. The pump is used to create a steady flow of the liquid. Due to the high heat capacity, the liquid serves to effectively remove heat and eliminate vibration, which increases the device lifespan. The accumulated heat may be dispersed into the outside space with the help of a cooling tower, or it can be channeled for a beneficial use case. This allows to cut down electricity costs by up to 30% and reduce energy costs that relate to the cooling operations.

Immersion cooling systems are taking hold in the cryptocurrencies mining industry. Though the majority of rigs are still cooled down by legacy air cooling systems, the immersive solutions are expected to become ubiquitous in the years to come.

The cooling tower is used when the consumer doesn’t intend to reuse the accumulated head energy. Fans blow over the cooling tower that contains the flowing coolant. The heat is simply dispersed into the environment, acting as an unwanted by-product of the mining process.

To divert the heat, the heat exchanges are deployed in contact with the cooling tower. While the internal cooling system stays intact, such a solution allows to successfully transfer the heat and channel it for beneficial use.

Potential use cases for immersion cooling

ASIC miner cooling systemslike the ones supplied by BiXBiT are designed with the modular concept in mind. For example, BiXBiT offers single cells, vertical racks, as well as full-stack containers with suites of cells and racks pre-installed and ready for installation. Below, we share about the major applications for the produced heat.

Option 1: Heating home and office space

Asimple use case, heating your own home has been a highly popular option among the crypto enthusiasts. To implement such a solution, users combine the immersion cooling system with fans.

The coolant, circulating within the system, is being heated when contacting the mining equipment. Subsequently, the coolant is channeled into the radiator, cooled by the fans. In this way, the outgoing air is heated and can be used to warm up home or office premises.

Users enjoy an additional source of income. On top of the profits generated from their crypto mining operations, owners can reduce their bills for electricity and connection to the central heating system either fully or in part.

Among available systems is Mine Home from BiXBiT that helps utilize the unused electricity at home. An easy-to-connect system is ready to start mining immediately upon installation.

Option 2: Oil & gas applications (mining using stranded gas)

In oil and gas extraction, a high number of gas has to be burned at the place of production since it’s not feasible to use it otherwise. As a result, the burning activities produce methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas, which has a detrimental effect on the environment.

Businesses have been springing up that utilize the stranded gas to run crypto mining operations and generate profits, converting an otherwise unusable resource into a value driver.

Among such projects is a hydro-coolingand heat recovery pilot project that is run by WhatsMiner in the US. The implemented system, named as “Integrated Energy and Hashing System” (IEHS), helps turn crypto mining into a much greener operation and benefits the local communities and the society overall.

A recently published report by the White House, Climate and Energy Implications of Crypto-Assets, states “the crypto-asset industry can potentially use stranded methane gas, which is the principal component of natural gas, to generate electricity for mining.” Heat Core, a major crypto mining provider, has jumped on the bandwagon and offered the Methane Green solution that is fully tailored to be powered by the flare gas. The installation is fully ready to be used outdoors and features the waterproof design in full compliance with the IP54 protection standard.

Importantly, the facility has managed to minimize the use of water, taking it down to an almost negligible level. The solution is perfectly suited to be used for flare gas, as well as gas produced at landfills, biogas collection facilities, animal husbandry and sewage processing. In this way, the company has set itself up for potential extensions across various municipal and agricultural ecosystems.

Option 3: Industrial workshops and warehouses

Another effective use case is heating industrial workshops and warehouses. Such installations usually cover a wide space that is only rarely used for the actual work. However, a certain temperature needs to be maintained continuously so that no damage is incurred to the equipment and fixtures.

Premises like that usually feature back-up transformer substations that stay idle most of the time. Installing miners allows them to effectively use the stranded electricity and potentially heat the premises with the use of the fans.

This will empower industrial facilities to present a more conscious and effective attitude toward ensuring sustainability and a more positive image when viewed through the ESG lens. With time, mining operations and industrial supply chains are expected to amalgamate, helping the society to better deal with an urgent need to economize resources and tackle negative effects of global warming.

With the climate-related policies unchanged, the world might be on the path to seeing an increase in temperatures for up to 2.7°C. The “green” mining, empowered through the use of immersion cooling, highly performant firmwares developed by providers like BiXBiT DEV and latest mining equipment offers a way to better manage the grid load. The mining industry is incentivized to consume stranded power during the periods of low demand and automatically reduce the energy consumption during the peak loads.

Industrial facilities have always been a major energy consumer, and any tools that allow such businesses to reduce a footprint are expected to be welcome in the years to come. In this light, the crypto mining industry would gradually turn into a major driver behind more sustainable business practices and “green” technologies.

Option 4: Heating water supply

A more complicated solution, heating the water for the subsequent beneficial usage requires miners to implement an immersion cooling solution. Here’s how the BixBit team advises to go about that: “You don’t have to set up an intricate system across your household or office premises. Consider starting with a simple heat exchanger that contacts the immersion cooling system and takes the heat from it in full or partial amount. A good option is to try and heat a larger premise like a living room. Subsequently, you can always enlarge the scope of use for your heated water”.

Naturally, the hot water can be supplied for showering and other household needs. An intercooler or heat exchanger will serve these purposes well.

Option 5: Heating greenhouses

A more exotic use case for reusing the accumulated energy, heating greenhouses helps introduce healthier foods into your ration and enjoy closer connections with nature.

Your own greenhouse is capable of supplying organic foods that are rich in nutrients and free of any kind of pesticides and similar compounds.

Even those homes that have a winter garden or swimming pool can use the heat generated from mining to reach and maintain the desired temperatures indoors.

Option 6: Drying wood and similar crafts/industrial use cases

One step further is drying the wood in preparation for the winter season. Such a use case can be of high benefit for households located in colder climates, such as those based in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Finland and other countries.

Here’s what the developers with BiXBiT DEV Development Department share on this: “A roster of high-potential use cases is clearly seen in industrial applications. With time, ASICs will start popping up in basements of plants and similar production facilities. In such locations, the air needs to be kept at a certain level, but without heating it up that much. A suite of machines can do that with ease”.

Conclusion

Immersion cooling allows miners to reuse the generated heat for beneficial purposes. BiXBiT has been at the forefront of the movement to raise awareness and convert legacy systems into fully immersive architectures.

Immediately after the system has been implemented, the owner of the mining setup finds it hard to determine where the mining operation finishes and where the heat reuse solution starts. Such an effective combination of the two strategies will surely attract an ever-growing line of users in the years to come.

Below is an example for AMS running on M30. As the screenshot shows the chip is constantly running at around 80° C, and this temperature can either be released into the air or used for beneficial uses.

Below is a real-life example for the AMS solution running on the M30 machine. As the screenshot shows, the chip is constantly running at around 80° C. Operators have a choice between releasing the heat into the air with no value added or using it for beneficial applications.

Immersion cooling is at the forefront of the movement to turn mining into a more “green” technology, ushering a much more positive impact on the environmental and societal aspects.

There’s no question that the maturing mining industry will need to deal with more onerous requirements toward their environmental footprint, brought by the regulators and stakeholders. Those miners who opt for a more sustainable approach will be able to strengthen their long-term viability and potential for growth.