Canadian Oil & Gas Company Proves Bitcoin Improves Energy Efficiency & Environment

The Canadian oil and gas company Bengal Energy recently announced it will begin utilizing some gas wells controlled by some Australian partners; Santos Energy and Bridgeport Energy, to mine Bitcoin.

Bengal’s decision to integrate Bitcoin mining into their business comes after a successful trial, and they now plan on hooking 70 Bitcoin mining rigs to their facilities in Australia. They project they can earn $2000.00 – $5000.00 USD worth of BTC daily on this income stream alone.

The decision by Bengal is logical because these particular oil wells exist in the Australian outback; a far cry from civilization. The transportation of oil from these wells to civilization is thus not very economical, so the added income stream from Bitcoin mining is a great break.

In this vein though, Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Network have come under increased fire as of late from environmental advocacy groups. These groups claim Bitcoin’s program, hinging on the “Proof-of-Work” system, is causing environmental damage due to the CO2 the BTC (Bitcoin) mining process emits.

This is a ludicrous criticism by environmentalists (why not criticize the Internet in general? It also uses a lot of electric power, so let’s shut down the Internet?). That being said, Bitcoiners and oil and gas companies aren’t automatically opposed to improving the environment or becoming more energy-efficient, which increases profits. It’s fitting then, to find the Bitcoin and oil and gas industries teaming up here with the Bengal instance and in other situations, as the oil and gas sector is also often targeted for bogus criticism by environmentalist zealots.

Years ago Bitcoiners predicted the already established energy industry would flow to Bitcoin mining for the inevitable, and high-profit potential.

Bengal’s move is really part of a greater trend, as the U.S. oil and gas giants Exxon Mobil and ConocoPhillips also recently made announcements similar to Bengal’s. These companies, too, would be diverting otherwise stranded oil products, like in the Australian Outback situation with Bengal and partners, or waste by-products from the extraction process, to be used for Bitcoin mining.

Game theory has been initiated and so the trend of energy companies integrating Bitcoin mining is impossible to stop at this point. The setup for Bitcoin mining is exceedingly simple and the profits are too immense for energy CEOs to ignore.

Oil and gas isn’t the only part of the energy industry, though, integrating Bitcoin mining into their operations.

In a perfect example of what we could see going forward, Pennsylvania-based Stronghold Digital Mining has begun burning coal ash for Bitcoin mining. Coal ash is a toxic by-product of coal mining and can poison water sources, but until the advent of Bitcoin mining, lots of coal ash was just lying around decommissioning coal-power plants in Pennsylvania because no one had a use for it.

The Stronghold example, then, provides undeniable evidence environmental activists should be cheering the integration of Bitcoin mining into the energy sector, as it’s highly likely more environmental solutions are to be found, and in fact already are. Before moving on, it has to be underlined that Bitcoin mining in the Stronghold example is allowing a company to make profits at the same time as providing solutions for real-world environmental issues. In this case, Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining are enabling a process that goes against a typically held belief or trope, which is environmentally friendly goals or activities are a losing profits game. 

Again, ‘Stronghold’ is literally helping improve the environment, and making a profit at the same time. Everyone wins here. Who in their right mind has a problem with this?

But it’s also possible to see how Bitcoin Mining could provide a solution to arguably weaker energy sector actors, (i.e. wind & solar). One of, if not the main issue with wind and solar energy has been the lopsided amount of energy they produce. Either they produce very little when it is not sunny or windy or too much to use when it is (even today, storing green energy surpluses is extremely inefficient).

But what if these wind or solar panel farms were simply to hook a couple of Bitcoin mining rigs to their facilities? If they were to do this, they would still be able to make a profit, despite inefficiencies, and potentially be able to actually turn a reliable profit.

Bitcoin mining is a real income solution not only for the green energy industry but also a way for oil and gas companies to supplement their incomes while making themselves more environmentally friendly. Going forward, energy companies may want to look for more opportunities to partner with Bitcoin miners going forward.