The authorities of the city of North Vancouver in the Canadian province of British Columbia plan to heat 100 residential and industrial buildings starting in 2022 using Bitcoin mining.
We are excited to announce that MintGreen will be providing low carbon heating at scale to North Vancouver, making them the first city in the world to be heated by #Bitcoin 🌱⚡⛏️ https://t.co/fD8PHkfGNK
— MintGreen (@MintGreenHQ) October 14, 2021
The municipal energy company Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC) has signed an agreement with mining company MintGreen to secure a new low-carbon energy source for the central heating system in place of burning natural gas.
According to the press release, MintGreen’s immersion-cooled cryptocurrency mining units, the Digital Boiler, convert more than 95% of the electricity they consume into heat that can be used for heating and in industrial processes.
«Cryptocurrency miners operate at full capacity 365 days a year, which creates a unique opportunity to provide a reliable and environmentally friendly baseload for North Vancouver’s centralized heating system,» the statement said.
According to LEC, using energy from Bitcoin mining will prevent emissions of 20 000 tonnes of greenhouse gases per MW compared with burning natural gas.
«The partnership with MintGreen on this project is very exciting for LEC. It is an innovative and cost-competitive project, and it supports our efforts to back the city’s ambitious greenhouse gas reduction goals,» said Karsten Veng, CEO of the Lonsdale Energy Corporation.
In 2019, the city council decided to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In addition, from 2029 a carbon footprint tax of CAD 170 per tonne will come into force in Canada, raising the cost of natural gas consumption.
The real estate sector accounts for 40% of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, and authorities intend to reduce them through mining.
MintGreen CEO Colin Sullivan noted that more than 97% of the province’s energy mix is supplied by hydropower. The dual use of this green electricity reduces the carbon footprint and makes the project “one of the greenest in the world,” he says.
In March 2021, MintGreen closed a round of seed financing, led by CoinShares. The amount invested in the company was not disclosed.