- A brand new nuclear-powered data center in Pennsylvania will host bitcoin mining.
- That is the primary nuclear-powered bitcoin mine in america.
- Bitcoin mining is a traditionally pollution-filled business, nevertheless it’s starting to deal with cleaner vitality to run energy-hungry computer systems.
Computer systems eat up plenty of vitality, and so do the blockchains required to continuously mine cryptocurrency. However a brand new nuclear-powered information heart is about to launch in Pennsylvania later this yr, and it may shift a minimum of a few of that pollution-filled vitality consumption to a cleaner model.
Cumulus Information has wrapped the first phase of its 475-megawatt, zero-carbon Susquehanna information heart campus in northeast Pennsylvania. The venture begins with a 48-megawatt, 300,000-square-foot information heart to house TeraWulf, a bitcoin mining firm.
The 1,200-acre campus goals to supply zero-carbon vitality from Talen Power’s Susquehanna nuclear energy era facility. The Cumulus information facilities will join on to the power with out legacy electrical transmission and distribution utilities. The info facilities using direct-connect, on-site nuclear energy era will make it the primary nuclear-powered bitcoin mine within the U.S.
To mine extra bitcoin, computer systems should regularly function to resolve complicated puzzles. This course of is a power-sucking endeavor that has led to large information facilities the world over devoted simply to bitcoin mining. These information facilities crave vitality. Ethereum, the world’s second largest crypto blockchain, has already began bettering its carbon emission efforts, however bitcoin accounts for roughly 70 p.c of all crypto electrical energy utilization and hasn’t made main positive factors in cleansing up its course of.
Electrical energy utilization from world crypto mining quadrupled from 2018 to 2022, according to the U.S. authorities. By mid-2022, crypto property have been utilizing upward of 240 billion kilowatt hours per yr—greater than the annual electrical energy of nations similar to Argentina or Australia. Crypto electrical energy utilization made up practically 1 p.c of all annual world electrical energy utilization, and crypto operations eat as much as 1.7 p.c of all U.S. electrical energy utilization.
As information facilities the world over look to maneuver cryptocurrency mining towards renewable vitality, switching to nuclear could function one approach to clear up the business.
Tim Newcomb is a journalist based mostly within the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and extra for quite a lot of publications, together with Widespread Mechanics. His favourite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.
