Marathon is using Bitcoin mining to heat up a town of 11,000 in Finland.
Today, Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), a leader in Bitcoin mining, launched an innovative pilot project to warm communities in Finland by recycling heat generated from Bitcoin mining. The 2-megawatt data center, which came online at the end of May, is located in Satakunta, a district of 11,000 residents.
JUST IN: Marathon is currently using the heat generated by a village of over 11,000 people in Finland to warm its waters. #Bitcoin Mining 🤯 🇫🇮
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 20, 2024
“This pilot project in Finland is an important step forward in our strategy to expand globally and innovate sustainably,” said Fred Thiel, Chairman and CEO of Marathon. “We don’t just produce digital assets. We are heating our homes and incorporating sustainable practices into our business model. We believe these innovations can drive the advancement of the digital asset computing industry and further strengthen Marathon’s leading position in the field.”
The scheme marks Marathon’s first district heating project and its debut in Europe. District heating involves heating water centrally and distributing it through underground pipes to heat local buildings. Finland, known for its clean energy mix, relies heavily on biomass for district heating. The project aims to reduce carbon emissions and operating costs by utilizing heat from digital asset data centers.
Marathon’s ASIC heating settings
“Europe’s cold climate has resulted in an extensive network of district heating systems providing warmth to millions of residents,” Marathon said in its new Heating with Hash report, published in full below. “This same climate has attracted another industry, data centres, which benefit from the lower energy consumption and infrastructure costs associated with lower temperatures. The proportion of electricity consumed by data centers in the EU is at least below the global average where data centers are included. These energy-intensive facilities generate three significant amounts of heat, creating a unique opportunity for strategic partnerships with district heating systems. creates.”
“One industry needs heat, and another industry generates a lot of heat,” Marathon said in the report. “Instead of wasting the abundant heat produced by data centers, we can recycle it to meet our heating needs. This innovation transforms data centers’ unwanted by-products into a valuable resource for district heating systems, costing and wasting money for everyone involved. while reducing the need for inefficient carbon-emitting heat sources.”
Heating in Marathon with Hash Report
The project expands its footprint to 12 sites across four continents as part of Marathon’s broader commitment to sustainability. According to Future Market Insights Inc, the district heating market is expected to grow from $198 billion to $340 billion by 2033, providing significant growth opportunities. Marathon aims to strengthen its sustainability portfolio and explore new revenue streams in line with its goal of achieving zero-cost power for digital asset computing by recycling heat.
“Following the success of our pilot project in Utah, which demonstrated that using landfill gas for digital asset computing is economically viable and environmentally beneficial, we are exploring innovative ways for our operations to add value beyond distributed ledger security. It’s like Bitcoin,” said Adam Swick, Chief Growth Officer at Marathon. “This pilot project in Finland is our first attempt to convert the heat we produce as a by-product of our operations into a valuable resource for the local community. We will collect more data from this project as we explore additional ways we can utilize it. We look forward to helping you build a more sustainable future through digital asset computing.”
For more information about Marathon’s sustainability initiatives, visit their website here. If you’d like to read Marathon’s Heating with Hashes report in full, you can do so below.
