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I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

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Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#171

Post by hutzlibu »

nr2x wrote: post #157
mensetmanusman wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think any rational person argues that Facebook isn’t doing anything useful at all, lots of people value the connectivity and ability to share photos during lockdown. Facebook has a good and bad side just like humans do. For example, if Facebook got rid of the ability to post news, it would be a much better place.

The questions are twofold: does Facebook do more good than bad? Could the good be accomplished without much of the bad? The answers to both questions are arguably bad for Facebook.

But then why is there no serious competitor?

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#173

Post by ehnto »

lmilcin wrote: post #10

I wonder if we could make it even better and make smart heaters that instead of wasting calculations actually do something useful, something like folding proteins or some other computing load that doesn't require huge network load and can be easily distributed (something like SETI@home but actually useful). In densely populated cities we could bury huge datacenters underground and use that energy for heating directly…

Not quite what you mean, but a city in Australia is trialing "Smart Appliance Response Automation". The gist is that some appliances can utilize excess green power during the day in order to not need that energy later at night when it would need to be provided by gas turbines.

The current trial is actually residential water heaters, by heating the water using excess green power during the day you effectively store that energy as heat and that water then gets used later that night or early morning for showers/baths/washing etc.

Another example is a more obvious one, which is electric cars and other large battery appliances. The ultimate goal is to get these appliances talking to the grid directly, so that they know when to draw power and when to idle.

https://www.energyrating.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-01/...

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#174

Post by cblconfederate »

FridgeSeal wrote: post #162

“Person inefficiently wastes gratuitous amounts of energy perpetuating imaginary currency, tries to pass it off as if it’s all ok because their house gets warmer as a side effect”

so many people use electric heaters, i dont see what s the problem if they are mining on the side

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#175

Post by MeinBlutIstBlau »

mensetmanusman wrote: post #130
mrweasel wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently a Facebook datacenter in Denmark is supplying around 10.000 homes with heating. You can argue that Facebook isn't actually doing anything useful, but still, it's better than to waste the generated heat.

I don’t think any rational person argues that Facebook isn’t doing anything useful at all, lots of people value the connectivity and ability to share photos during lockdown. Facebook has a good and bad side just like humans do. For example, if Facebook got rid of the ability to post news, it would be a much better place.

Also, Facebook created apis that other developers utilize for many AppStore apps. So it's really nothing you can control.

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#177

Post by 3np »

joosters wrote: post #89

My mining rig will stay profitable until the ETH price is at ~900$ I don't think this is at all true. Even if the price of the crypto remained stable, the mining difficulty will keep on increasing as more miners join. So after a time, his mining rigs will consume more money in electricity than they generate in coins.

Well, no, at a certain point (and indeed during normal market conditions, which right now isn't) there's an equilibrium. As global hashrate goes up, as you not, profitability goes down, which makes miners switch to other chains, or, eventually, power down their rigs.

I think your initial statement is correct, but from the wrong direction; if the ETH price is at 900$, the incentive to mine is less, some of current hashpower will already have left the mining of ETH, ergo OP is actually likely to still be profitable, although less so.

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#178

Post by rini17 »

lmilcin wrote: post #10

I wonder if we could make it even better and make smart heaters that instead of wasting calculations actually do something useful, something like folding proteins or some other computing load that doesn't require huge network load and can be easily distributed (something like SETI@home but actually useful). In densely populated cities we could bury huge datacenters underground and use that energy for heating directly…

On one side, you want to recoup the miner investment and run it as much as possible, ideally 24/7.

But on the other side, you want the heater to regulate temperature (not overheat the room) by switching itself off as needed.

You can have both only if you either waste energy (vent it to outside) or have a thermal storage. It is already existing technology i.e. for electric heaters that accumulate heat using cheap night electricity and slowly release it during the day. Or water boilers. But they are bulky and can only store several hours worth of heat.

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#179

Post by Igelau »

Nextgrid wrote: post #86
monkeydust wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any coins / tokens that implement this or something similar?

The proof of work in tokens has to be a net waste of energy; the idea is that the proof of work is costly enough to prevent a 51% attack. Making the proof of work do “useful” things would lower the cost of said work thus lowering the barrier of entry to an attack.

Proof of waste.

Re: I heat my home by mining crypto currencies

#180

Post by nr2x »

hutzlibu wrote: post #171
nr2x wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The questions are twofold: does Facebook do more good than bad? Could the good be accomplished without much of the bad? The answers to both questions are arguably bad for Facebook.

But then why is there no serious competitor?

Imagine a world where Facebook didn’t buy WhatsApp and Instagram. So I think the better hypothetical is “imagine a world where Facebook didn’t leverage its existing dominance to preempt competitors”.
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