Why the crypto winter is a good antidote to global warming

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights (Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.) CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Bitcoin’s price plunge could…

Published June 23, 2022, 10:32am ET · 1 min read

A close-up, front-facing view of multiple rows of computing units. The foreground shows three large white-bladed cooling fans with blue centers, part of high-performance graphics cards or processing units. Below these, circuit boards with various ports (USB, ethernet, VGA) are visible. The units are mounted on a metal framework, and numerous cables are interconnected. The overall lighting is cool-toned, with blue and white hues dominating.
Rows of high-performance computing units represent the essential infrastructure powering digital workloads, a core aspect of companies like IREN. © NiseriN / iStock via Getty Images

By David Callaway, Callaway Climate Insights

(Mark Hulbert, an author and longtime investment columnist, is the founder of the Hulbert Financial Digest; his Hulbert Ratings audits investment newsletter returns.)

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (Callaway Climate Insights) — Bitcoin’s price plunge could lead to the greater production of renewable energy.

This is anything but obvious, so follow along. The price plunge will force many previously profitable crypto mining operations either to find cheaper sources of energy — or shut down. Yet, just as this need for cheaper energy is growing, conventional sources of electricity are becoming more expensive.

Renewable energy is the obvious alternative. The marginal cost of energy produced by solar, wind or hydro power is extremely low.

To be sure, few imagine that crypto mining is good for the climate, even when powered by renewable energy. But it’s possible that crypto mining can turn otherwise marginal solar, wind and hydro projects into solidly profitable operations, thus catalyzing the creation of more such projects than otherwise would have been the case.

This isn’t just a theoretical possibility, as I’ll discuss in a minute. . . .

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Trey Thoelcke

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.
Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community.
Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.
Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions.

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