Struggling With High Electricity Bills? Try Heating Your House With Bitcoin – These Americans Are Doing It
"Using the heat is another example of how crypto miners can be energy allies if you apply some creativity to their potential," she continued. "Same price as heating the house, but the perk is that you are mining bitcoin."
Crypto Heating's Skeptics
There are, of course, plenty of skeptics who don't believe bitcoin mining rigs are an effective, or even plausible, way to heat a space.
University of Rochester finance professor Derek Mohr says that home computers aren't specialized or powerful enough to effectively mine bitcoin, which undermines the entire proposition.
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"While bitcoin mining at home — and in networks of home computers — was a thing that had small success 10 years ago, it no longer is," Mohr told CNBC. "In my opinion, this is not a real opportunity that will work. Instead, it is taking advantage of things people have heard of — excess heat from bitcoin mining and profits from mining — and is giving false hope that there is a way for an individual to benefit from this."
"Yes, bitcoin mining generates a lot of heat, but the only way to get that to your house is to use your own electricity," he added.
A Real-World Test Case
People like Cade Peterson have become real-world test cases for the functionality of crypto mining rig heating. In Challis, Idaho, Peterson's company, Softwarm, is repurposing Bitcoin heat to warm several of the town's shops and businesses.
"Traditional heaters would consume energy with no returns. They installed bitcoin miners, and it produces more money in bitcoin than it costs to run," Peterson told CNBC.
So far, a car wash and an industrial concrete plant have both been able to offset their heating costs with Softwarm rigs. Peterson, who told CNBC he's been heating his own home with crypto heat for the last two years, says he expects to see more success stories like this in the future.
"You will go to Home Depot in a few years and buy a water heater with a data port on it, and your water will be heated with bitcoin," he said.
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Image: Shutterstock
This article Struggling With High Electricity Bills? Try Heating Your House With Bitcoin – These Americans Are Doing It originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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