The premiere of the documentary Stranded directed by Alana Mediavilla was screened this week in Prague.
STRANDED (energy)
The short film unveiled during the POW Summit will satisfy the curiosity of those interested in the bitcoin mining industry. THE documentary takes the opposite view of the press to orders which likes to compare the electricity consumption of Bitcoin to that of small countries.
Among others, you will find Sébastien Gouspillou in the documentary. The French miner argues that “Excess energy could power the equivalent of 10 Bitcoin networks, or even 15.”
Word “surplus” is crucial. Some media deliberately ignore the fact that the electricity consumed by bitcoin miners is often electricity that no one else would consume. Electricity which also comes mainly from renewable energy sources.
The documentary shows how bitcoin miners such as BBGS or Gridless are helping to electrify Africa. A continent where 750 million people still do not have access to electricity.
By what magic? Quite simply by purchasing excess electricity which cannot reach populations due to lack of power lines.
The money paid by miners for otherwise wasted electricity makes it easier to make power plants profitable and ultimately accelerate electrification.
It is the perfect precursor to our feature-length documentary “Dirty Coin”.
Bitcoin to fight global warming
The documentary also focuses on Crusoe, a company that harvests methane to mine bitcoins.
The miner sets up where methane tends to leak. Typically on flares. The latter are located on oil wells too far from civilization for gas to be transported and sold there.
Instead of being flared, the methane powers generators. The latter in return provide electricity to bitcoin miners who have the particularity of being able to set up anywhere.
The combustion of methane in electric generators occurs at 99.99%, compared to only 90% in flares. In other words, 10% of methane escapes into the atmosphere instead of transforming into CO2.
However, the impact of methane on global warming is dozens of times more serious than that of CO2. So much so that connecting bitcoin miners to flares reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 60% (in CO2 equivalent).
Here are three articles for more information:
–Bitcoin is heading towards renewables
–Bitcoin, the joker of energy companies
–Bitcoin Mining can mitigate global warming
–Cambridge University lowers its estimate of Bitcoin’s electricity consumption
The Stranded documentary is currently screening at several Bitcoin festivals and conferences. Another documentary is already in production and will be released in 2024: Dirty corner.
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