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Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

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Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#161

Post by WikipediasBad »

where_do_i_live wrote: post #118
himlion wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you'd bought $6k worth of ethereum outright in march it would be worth $90k now. That's why I haven't started mining, it only seems profitable in a sideways market.

That has a different risk profile entirely. I could always resell the video cards I bought at near cost. Buying speculative coins is another matter entirely. Further, I'm not mining ETH - if I took your advice on the coin I am mining I would have a net LOSS not gain. You should take another look at the economics of mining, I think you have a few aspects misunderstood.

I used to mine hardcore back in the good ole days in 2013, first altcoin boom. What are you hobby miners mining these days? I know whattomine.com has charts, but what are some of the favorites these days for GPU and CPU coins that are actually profitable? Monero? Back in my day it was Dogecoin lol

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#163

Post by Hextinium »

wallace_f wrote: post #77
ph0rque wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many miles cycled = one bitcoin mined?

I don't know, but according to this reddit post(1), I could hope to earn maybe 1 cent after a year of non-stop cycling. But I would never be cold for a whole year. 1- https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/6cf1wn/i_mined_bit...

If you used Gridcoin then you would be using you computer for something more useful (doing science) and you would get better payout too!

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#164

Post by mark-r »

wlesieutre wrote: post #124
andbberger wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is silly, CPUs are 100% efficient at converting electrical energy into heat. Where do you think that 'ancillary energy' is going? Obviously heat pumps are more efficient - that's kinda beside the point though. The main point here is you can take anywhere you had a resistive heating element and replace it with a mining chip, and you're now doing something useful with that energy you were turning into heat anyway.…

>Obviously heat pumps are more efficient - that's kinda beside the point though. Only obvious if you know what a heat pump is! Plenty of people will hear "Electrical heating is 100% efficient" and interpret that to mean it's the ideal solution, when in a lot of cases it's just about the worst. But yes, if you have electrical heating, you could throw in some CPUs or ASICs instead and they'll work just as well. The ret…

At $430/month for the bitcoins, I think they can afford to keep the systems current. Obviously market conditions can change drastically, but they're just as likely to go up as down.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#165

Post by mark-r »

Retric wrote: post #151
khedoros1 wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's resistive heating that does something that most resistive heating doesn't do: generate some level of additional income in the form of cryptocurrency.

Only if you need full power heat 24/7 365. If you ever want to turn it off then it's costing you deprecation on very expensive hardware, vs a simple heating element. Remember, few things need constant heat output 24/7 365, otherwise your going to want to generate some or all of your heat from other sources.

That's the brilliant part - doing it in Siberia where the heat is almost always welcome. Iceland might be good too.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#166

Post by mark-r »

There's nothing new about this. I remember a story from the days of mainframes, where a data center had to be redesigned - they had built it without heating, expecting the mainframe to provide all the heat the building needed in the winter. By the time they got around to buying a machine to put in it the technology had progressed and it was much more power efficient than they had planned.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#167

Post by TedLePoireau »

Faaak wrote: post #158
TedLePoireau wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what we are doing at Qarnot Computing for 5years. We created a heater using CPU as a heat source. People send a docker image (3d rendering, financial analysis...) and we run it on heaters deployed in buildings in Paris where people are heated for free (we refund the electricity cost) https://computing.qarnot.com https://www.qarnot.com/faq/ Disclosure: I work there :)

Love the idea ! I would love to work with you if I didn't have a nice project in the same time. Small error in the FAQ though: "kW/h" ;-)

I'll make sure this is fixed on Monday ! Thank you :)

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#168

Post by rhaps0dy »

corysama wrote: post #52
RealityVoid wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not. It still uses proof of work, for now at least. They say they want to implement proof of stake. THAT will be interesting, but I want to see if they ever get there.

There was an interesting article "Nothing is cheaper than proof of work"[1] that talked about both proof-of-stake and using miners to heat your home. Basically, if you decide you are willing to pay $9 to make $10 back, then discover you are additionally saving $1 off your heating bill, you will logically be willing to pay up to $10 to make $10 back + $1 in savings. But, the main point of the article was that "proof o…

Using electricity creates negative externalities in the form of physical resource consumption, though.

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#169

Post by abysmalfitzg »

wlesieutre wrote: post #3

Didn't watch the video, but a quick point on how the energy efficiency of this works out: Electric heaters are 100% efficient at turning electrical energy into heat. All the energy they take in, that's where it goes. Bitcoin mining (and computers in general) are basically in the same boat. There's some ancillary energy use for blowing air around or shining lights or making sound waves, but for the most part the elect…

Is this the "famous" "siberian coefficient"?

https://books.google.com/books?id=A4DGiaOn3BwC&pg=PA167&dq=%...

Re: Bitcoin mining heats homes for free in Siberia [video]

#170

Post by senthil_rajasek »

jmkni wrote: post #91
senthil_rajasek wrote: post #68

I only turn on the heat when I want heat. Mining bitcoin to heat my home seems backwards.

Might be different if you live somewhere permanently cold

That's right may be they never leave home or go on a vacation.
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