Is there a ‘false solution‘? How cryptocurrency mining became the new hope for the oil industry

<p>Climate experts warn that repurposing waste gas is not a solution, but rather a Band-Aid applied to a gaping wound.</p> <p>Chase Lochmiller and Cully Cavness, newly reunited prep school friends from Denver, travelled out to the snow-covered plains of Wyoming in January 2019 to bring a piece of computer culture to the American heartland. They linked up a prototype of their idea, a machine that harnesses "waste gas" from oil rigs to fuel cryptocurrency mining, trembling in -20F (-29C) temperatures.</p> <p>Cryptocurrencies, particularly bitcoin, the most widely used decentralised digital currency, are known for their high carbon footprint (bitcoin mining alone consumes about half as much electricity in a year as all of the UK). As a result, Lochmiller and Cavness found themselves cooperating with oil firms to recycle a waste, predominantly methane, that is traditionally vented or burned off in flares.</p> <p>Waste from a single bitcoin transaction is 'equivalent to trashing two iPhones'</p> <p>"We flipped the switch and immediately watched all the bitcoin mining servers turn green, and you could see the flare visibly diminish," explained Lochmiller, a self-described "city boy" who had never set foot in an oilfield.</p> <p>"It was almost like a Frankenstein moment: 'Oh my god, it's alive!'"</p> <p>Their innovation is part of a small but growing wave of technology businesses that are approaching the oil and gas industry as a potential source of revenue for the bitcoin boom. Lochmiller and Cavness, who founded Crusoe Energy, see their solution as a marriage of two problems that may "solve" themselves: the waste of gas flaring, which adds to the climate disaster, and the growing demand for cheaper energy as cryptocurrency gains popularity.</p> <p>However, climate experts warn that this is a "false solution" as long as oil and gas extraction continues. The world's foremost authority on climate science says that only a major reduction in glasshouse gas emissions would help escape a global catastrophe; simply fin