Perhaps one of the most talked about concepts in recent times is bitcoin, the free and decentralized cryptocurrency that allows direct transactions without any type of intermediary.
Leaving aside its usefulness, one of the major drawbacks of bitcoin mining is that it is highly polluting due to the large amount of energy required for its development. That is why some companies in the sector are already working to alleviate this negative impact on the environment.
An example of this is the Catalonian company Green Data Chain (GDC), which uses energy generated from pig farm waste (biofuel) to power computers that mine bitcoins.
GDC reuses highly polluting pig waste as a source of energy for bitcoin mining, avoiding its direct discharge into the environment with the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and aquifer contamination that this entails. In addition, the company uses structures created from logistic containers where the processors are installed in such a way that the use of energy and refrigeration is optimal.
The OCA Global team has been responsible for certifying that the energy used to generate the bitcoins comes entirely from the pig farm's waste.
It is considered that the bitcoins generated in the certified facility have been generated with a CO2 equivalent balance of less than or equal to zero, since it has been verified that the CO2 equivalent generated in the mining of bitcoins is less than the CO2 equivalent that would have been discharged into the environment if the conversion of livestock waste into biofuel had not been carried out. In short, we certify that these bitcoins have been generated with a negative CO2 balance.