An innovative farmer from Armagh, Northern Ireland, has found a novel way to utilize excess energy on his farm – by converting cow dung into digital currency.
Tom Campbell, the farm owner, employs a technique called anaerobic digestion to break down biodegradable matter, resulting in the production of methane gas that can generate electricity.
While primarily using this electricity to power his farm, Campbell has also begun using it to mine bitcoins when there is a surplus of energy.
This is significant, as bitcoin mining requires a substantial amount of energy, and Campbell’s farm produces up to 700kW, enough to power almost 12,000 households.
As Ireland aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2030, the agricultural sector, which includes cows, is responsible for over 35% of the country’s emissions.
Managing the waste produced by the 7.3 million cows in the country is, therefore, critical for achieving these goals.
With anaerobic digestion technology, enough electricity could potentially be generated for every home in Ireland if at least 41% of farms adopt this method.
In 2022, Ecological, Social, and Corporate Governance (ESG) analysts reported that burning methane from various sources to mine bitcoins could decrease carbon emissions and the danger of global warming.
However, in a bid to safeguard the environment, a group of congressmen petitioned the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last year to prohibit mining of cryptocurrencies that employ an environmentally damaging consensus algorithm.