According to Daniel Batten, co-founder of CH4Capital, Bitcoin mining will probably reduce emissions more than the energy source itself. Batten is a partner in a fund that raised $400 million to fund projects that reduce methane leaking from landfills by using the gas to mine Bitcoin.
"Once fully implemented, we will have enough capital to make the entire Bitcoin Network contribute to reducing carbon emissions,"
Batten said in our interview, a claim that contradicts recent prominent Bitcoin critics.
"Like electric vehicles, Bitcoin has no direct emissions, [but] we want to go further and also reduce all emissions caused by electricity use," Batten said of the fund's intentions.
According to him, by targeting the landfills that release the methane, they can reduce emissions ten times faster than other techniques.
Batten believes his project can have a significant impact. There are already several companies using Bitcoin mining as a tool to monetize this waste and reduce landfill emissions. These companies have paved the way for Batten and his team to pursue this endeavor.
Bryan Black is the co-founder and CEO of Nodal Power, a renewable energy company that uses methane from landfills to generate electricity.
“In some cases, we've looked at locations where we would develop a factory with a data center, and then develop that project into a grid-connected project,” Black told me of their project development.
Black explains that Nodal is not a Bitcoin mining company, but they found that the data center and technology allowed them to expand their market in a unique way. Bitcoin mining has become a key tool they use to prove that landfill gas projects can operate reliably and efficiently off the grid.
Nodal raised $13 million in 2021 to start their landfill processing projects. They have also filed two patents related to technology they are developing for the use of biogas in off-grid configurations. Currently, Nodal is working with an investment bank to raise $60 million in equity to continue their expansion.
"Simply put, we know that what we do is good for landfills, good for local energy markets, good for technology development, and good for the environment," Black said in conclusion.