Immersive cooling tech could help Bitcoin mining go green by 2030

Published at: Oct. 29, 2021

Immersive cooling technology may help with the transition to zero-emission Bitcoin mining Bitcoin Mining Council (BMC) member Hass McCook told Cointelegraph.

McCook, known online as Friar Hass, believes the industry is on track to hit the goal by 2030.

Immersive cooling involves submerging Bitcoin mining ASICs into a specialized cooling fluid, which absorbs and recycles heat from the data center. This method of Bitcoin mining increases productivity.

Earlier this month, Bitcoin mining company Riot Blockchain announced that it will be developing 200 megawatts of immersion-cooled Bitcoin mining infrastructure at its Whinstone Facility. Based on the company’s preliminary immersion-cooling test results, it expects hash rate to increase by 25%, and ASIC performance to increase by up to 50%.

Brian Roemmele, co-host of Around the Coin podcast, posted a photograph of an immersed Bitcoin mining rig on Oct 29 on Twitter, claiming that “by submerging Bitcoin Miners in liquid, heat and noise is reduced by 95% and we can recapture up to 40% of the heat and convert this to power”.

“Bitcoin will be 100% green by 2024,” he added, “No other system will be more green”.

Although McCook does agree that Bitcoin can become carbon neutral, he is less optimistic about the time frame.

“I do believe by 2030 it’ll be zero emissions, but I think 2024 is a bit ambitious,” he said. “And I think that immersive cooling tech might be part of the move to green”.

“So in terms of sustainability, you get durability, and you don't have to manufacture as many of these things,” he added.

Immersive cooling can reduce the need to replace equipment and the amount of energy required to cool rigs while mining BTC. While that mitigates the environmental impact of mining, it does it in an attractive way for miners, said McCook.

“The move to green Bitcoin mining won’t be for environmental reasons. It'll be to get miners’ cost basis down to improve their profits."

He added that the main game was really about whether miners use sustainable energy sources.

“The harsh truth is when you plug your equipment into the wall, you get whatever it is that's on the other side of that plug,” said McCook.

“So really, for Bitcoin to properly become zero emission, the underpinning grid has to be zero emission.”

Forgot to mention the 50-90% overclock that effectively cuts your CAPEX in halfSpend $50m on rigs, and $10m on immersion infra, and you have effectively have $80m worth of rigs. No brainer (except for the brainless)The future is immersed https://t.co/qpt4Dwq0KK

— Friar Hass (@FriarHass) October 28, 2021

Bitcoin is edging closer towards a sustainable future. According to recent findings from the Bitcoin Mining Council, the North American members surveyed are currently utilizing electricity with a 65.9% sustainable power mix.

“Based on this data it is estimated that the global mining industry’s sustainable electricity mix had grown to approximately 57.7%, during Q3 2021, up 3% from Q2 2021, making it one of the most sustainable industries globally,” wrote the BMC.

Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor said: “This quarter we saw dramatic improvements to Bitcoin mining energy efficiency & sustainability due to advances in semiconductor technology, the rapid expansion of North American mining, the China Exodus, and worldwide rotation toward sustainable energy & modern mining techniques,”