Over the past couple of years, there’s been a lot of discussions concerning the energy consumed by cryptocurrency mining. However, more recently mining operations have been using environmentally friendly methods and some of them are channeling the excess heat to do produce other goals. This week the co-founder of the trading platform Nakamoto X, Kamil Brejcha, revealed a picture of tomatoes growing in a greenhouse that uses excess mining heat for the plant’s sustenance.
‘Cryptomatoes’
On March 10 the co-founder of the exchange Nakamoto X, Kamil Brejcha, revealed a photo of large bunches of tomatoes that were grown using excess heat from cryptocurrency miners. Mining rigs and computer servers, in general, give off a decent amount of heat and many cryptocurrency proponents have used this resource to heat homes, and other types of solutions. Brejcha explains the “cryptomatoes” became a reality after they developed a system that helps blow excess heat into the greenhouse.“Who would imagine that mining cryptocurrencies and agriculture can work together?” Brejcha asks his followers on Twitter.
The first batch of cryptomatoes is ready to be harvested. We are using the excess heat for the tomato greenhouse and it is working.
Closing the Energy Cycle Loop
Brejcha says the project is in “stealth mode” and reveals that the team producing the crypto-grown tomatoes is building an “Agritechture blockchain startup.” However, he does release more details to his followers explaining the greenhouse is about 5 acres. One person asks Brejcha why the team didn’t grow cannabis plants with the excess mining heat.
“Unfortunately, because of local strict rules, we were unable to obtain a license for medical marijuana growing so we had to choose tomatoes and other vegetables instead,” Brejcha details.
We are also producing our own energy — The mining operations are powered by 100% bio-waste produced energy — So basically we have closed the energy cycle loop.
According to Brejcha people will be able to buy the tomatoes in common shops. He says the team has developed a system called a “Cointainer” which is located in the basement and excess mining heat is blown into the greenhouses. Additionally, Brejcha says the team has vertical farming planned for the startup’s roadmap as well following the project’s initial stages. So far with all the complaints about mining wasting energy, a lot of cryptocurrency miners like Brejcha are showing people mining can have a closed energy cycle loop while producing digital assets, and fruits and vegetables.