Bitcoin miners take 16 seconds to respond when power grids are close to brownouts.
According to ClimateTech investor and analyst Daniel Batten, no other industry or energy user offers the level of support for energy grid stability that Bitcoin miners do.
Batten highlighted that Bitcoin data centers are quite flexible and need only 16 seconds to disconnect your equipment of an energy network in the event that it approaches a voltage drop.
Bitcoin miners can connect and disconnect at any time, a feature that reduces fluctuations in power grids, contributing to their stability.
Bitcoin mining and the renewable transition
Bitcoin has become much more than an investment asset. At the energy level, the cryptocurrency is playing a key role in moving towards the energy transition.
The miners of the blockchain network are Transforming energy production, distribution and consumption models, being one of the most flexible energy consumers in the world and the only one with enormous potential to drive the renewable transition.
On Twitter, Batten explained that Bitcoin network miners have the three characteristics of a “Perfect Demand Response” client, which are immediacy, longevity and precision.
Unlike other industries and energy consumers, Bitcoin miners have the ability to act immediately to connect or disconnect from an energy network. In addition to this, they can remain disconnected for prolonged periods and can adjust energy usage, precisely scaling it up or down to keep networks stable. According to Batten, these actions cannot be done by any other industry combined.
In his Twitter thread, the climate analyst compared Bitcoin mining is a comparison of a steel factory, which cannot stop its operations immediately or for a long time or by adjusting its consumption.
To achieve the energy transition, the International Energy Agency said 10 times more demand response is needed. “That’s grid jargon for ‘really flexible consumers that can be switched on and off at any time,’” Batten said.
52,6% of Bitcoin miners use clean energy
In a study Separately, the ClimateTech analyst highlighted Bitcoin mining as one of the most sustainable industries today.
Compared with the traditional financial industry, Bitcoin mining is more energy efficient than the banking network, Batten argues. According to the data in his study, 52,6% of BTC miners use clean energy, while only 39% of the global banking network uses clean and sustainable energy.
Other major industries, such as gold and steel, still rely heavily on fossil fuels, using them to produce much of their energy, Batten said in his study.
The change of the media
For years, Bitcoin has been the subject of bad press by mainstream media outlets, which try to scandalize the energy consumption of the blockchain network and ignore its potential and benefits.
However, there has been a major shift in the media’s outlook so far this year. Batten noted that in recent months, the number of articles published about the environmental benefits of Bitcoin and its mining outnumber articles published criticizing the network for its energy consumption 4 to 1. “In the first 125 days of 2023, positive environmental articles outnumbered negative articles 4:1,” he noted.
Batten has published numerous studies and analyses explaining the advantages that the market's leading cryptocurrency offers for energy stability.
While he admits that he was initially skeptical about Bitcoin’s environmental impact, to the point of being negative about the cryptocurrency, Batten noted that further study of Bitcoin and its underlying technology helped him understand the potential it has to reduce environmental impact, rather than create it. Batten believes that Bitcoin can significantly contribute to mitigating runaway methane emissions, driving the renewable transition while offering financial freedom and sovereignty to millions of people around the world.
Continue reading: Bitcoin mining as a stabilizer of energy networks, according to Texas A&M University
