I have read in several places that Bitcoin mining is a tremendous waste of energy. I can agree that it does consume a great deal of energy, which is both costly to the miner and the environment.
My personal attempt to reduce the impact of the 800 or so watts of energy my mining rig required to operate was to attempt to reduce it's environmental footprint using solar power.
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| 6 Overclocked ASICMining Blades Pulling Nearly 800W |
I had been storing about 300 Watts worth of amorphous solar collectors in my attic for about a year after we moved because of the tedious charge, discharge and inversion aspect of this low power solar setup as compared to larger, commercial installations. Until I found that inexpensive, low power grid tie inverters existed. Meet the low power solar inverter.
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| A 300W Grid Tie Inverter |
So the plan is to directly connect the solar panels to the grid tie inverter and tie the circuit directly to the circuit that my Bitcoin miner is on. Like the photo below (C) GreenEnergy
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| The Plan |
So I unpacked all the solar panels and started arranging them on the south side of the house at a 45 degree azimuth which is close enough for my area on the globe. I set up twelve 15W panels total in late fall before it started to snow. I ran #6 wire inside to the inverter with a total run length of about 15 feet. These panels are 12 volt, so larger cable and the shortest possible distance to the inverter gains a small, but important advantage in this scenario.
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| Twelve 15W Solar Panels ready to Mine Bitcoins |
I like the fact that solar power has nearly no moving parts and can produce a very surprising amount of energy depending on configuration. I wired the panels directly into my grid tie inverter and into the circuit powering my Bitcoin miners.
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| Grid tie Inverter Wired Up |
Since it's late in the season, I don't expect to get very much power because the sun is low on the horizon and we have fewer hours of daylight. But.. Once connected, if the sun shining, I am mining bitcoins with sunshine, and that's a pretty cool feeling.
Here's a short video of the solar panels putting out about 85 watts on an overcast day.
So, when the sun shines, the grid tie inverter just shares part of the load with the main line. It doesn't take care of all of it, but it makes a bit of a difference. Especially since once it's in place, it just works with out thinking about it. With spring approaching, I have seen sustained output of 130W or so. Cant wait to see what summer brings!
I do not officially endorse plugging unauthorized power equipment to the grid for anything other than experimental purposes.
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