Residents who live on the shores of Seneca Lake in New York State are amazed: the waters of the lake are so warm they feel like bathing in a hot tub! In question, the presence in the vicinity of a gas plant whose energy produced is used to mine bitcoin …
To mine bitcoin, you need energy, a lot of energy. Some operators are willing to do anything to generate cryptocurrency, including operating polluting power plants whose activity has a massive impact on their direct environment. This is the case of Lake Seneca, where Atlas Holdings owns a gas-fired power plant that fuels at full capacity to create as much crypto as possible.
In contradiction with the emission reduction targets
The plant, operated by Greenidge Generation, ramped up production a half and a half ago to power the 8,000 or so computers tasked with mining bitcoin. And Atlas Holdings does not intend to stop there, the company intends to increase its mining capacities. This massive computing power requires an equally large cooling system.
To achieve this, Greenidge Generation uses the water from the lake … But the discharge of water heats the lake, which inconveniences the residents to the greatest extent. In fact, the popular water activities in the summer have become almost impossible, and concerns have arisen about the ecosystem of flora and fauna.
If the general manager of the plant operator ensures that he is working in accordance with New York State rules, the pollution generated by the power plant is in flagrant contradiction with the objectives of reducing emissions of gas that the authorities have given themselves. To achieve this, it will be necessary to close the mining activity of Lake Seneca …
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