Mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be a nice source of income. It helps support the network and also gives a reward for each block mined. However, as many of our readers will know, mining itself is a costly endeavor. The price of hardware and electricity can require a small fortune just to be competitive. This is why it is so important for miners to reduce costs to maximize profits. To that end, a new report on wind energy may catch the attention of many miners.
Wind Power is Getting Cheaper
The United States Department of Energy recently published a report on the cost of wind-generated electricity in the U.S. The report claims that the costs of generating electricity with wind turbines are incredibly low, and will only become more so over time. It makes sense that this renewable form of energy would be fairly cheap. Once production facilities can reliably make the turbines themselves and proper R&D has gone into the machines, its fuel is virtually limitless. By spinning the large blades with natural wind currents, a turbine generates massive amounts of electricity. Regardless of how you feel about the look of these wind farms, they may bring a smile to your face upon opening your electricity bill. The report suggests that wind power may be cheaper than what consumers are paying currently, by quite a bit.
Competition in the renewable energy sector is one of the larger reasons for the recent innovation and cost saving measures that have led to cheaper wind electricity. With time, it should only get cheaper as companies continue vying for a larger place in the market.
Renewables for New Money
Renewables becoming cheaper should excite miners. If their electricity bills go down because of new wind or solar farms near their homes, their profits from mining go up. However, it may be worth it for miners to augment their farms to save even more money. If they own homes, it might be worth looking into installing personal solar panels on their roof. If they live in apartments or do not wish to purchase solar panels for their roofs, they may want to consider a solution like SolarGaps.
SolarGaps are solar panels on window blinds. Solutions like these can help bring down the large electricity bills that miners can incur. That being said, I realize that solar panels of any kind have costs of their own to take into consideration. However, new technology and materials have been helping consumers make back their initial investment faster than ever before.
Hopefully, continued innovation in the renewable energy industry will continue driving down electricity prices. While it may be cool to augment a mining operation with personal solar panels on blinds, renewable energy on the national grid should one day make doing so unnecessary. Who knows, one day soon a mining farm might be running solely on renewable energy. How cool would that be?
This is not mining or investment advice; always do your own research.
