北極圈比特幣礦將為漁村的一棟建築物供暖

專注於零售業的 Sazmining 正在挪威的一個小漁鎮利用水力發電開展小型比特幣挖礦業務。

A Bitcoin (BTC) mine is coming to the Arctic Circle.

一個比特幣（BTC）礦場即將來到北極圈。

The 350-square-meter facility, conceived by retail-oriented bitcoin mining firm Sazmining, will be located in a small fishing village on the coast of Norway. Once it goes live on Dec. 1, it may well become the northernmost mining operation in the world.

這個佔地 350 平方公尺的設施由零售導向比特幣挖礦公司 Sazmining 設計，將位於挪威海岸的一個小漁村。一旦 12 月 1 日上線，它很可能成為世界上最北的採礦作業。

The big idea? To remove the old oil boiler used by one of the town’s largest buildings, replace it with an in-house bitcoin-centric data center and warm the edifice using the tremendous heat produced by the mining rigs.

偉大的想法？要拆除鎮上最大的建築物之一使用的舊燃油鍋爐，將其替換為以比特幣為中心的內部資料中心，並利用採礦設備產生的巨大熱量為建築物供暖。

“Heat is a really critical resource in this region of the world,” Kent Halliburton, the CEO of Sazmining, told CoinDesk in an interview. “It’s minus 20 degrees Celsius for large portions of the year. … A portion of the heat [from the machines] is actually going to be shunted off to dry fish, which is part of the economy there.”

Sazmining 執行長 Kent Halliburton 在接受 CoinDesk 採訪時表示：“在世界這個地區，熱量是一種非常重要的資源。” 「一年中大部分時間氣溫都是攝氏20度。 ……[來自機器的]一部分熱量實際上將被分流到乾魚上，這是那裡經濟的一部分。

While Halliburton did not wish to publicize the facility’s exact location before it went live, he said the project aimed to showcase the possibilities offered by bitcoin mining to other Arctic residents.

雖然哈里伯頓不希望在該設施投入使用之前公佈該設施的確切位置，但他表示該項目旨在向其他北極居民展示比特幣開採提供的可能性。

“For the locals, it’s kind of like, you need to see it to believe it,” Halliburton said. “This will be helpful for them to understand that it’s not bleeding edge technology, but it’s pretty tested and it can be deployed now.”

「對當地人來說，這有點像，你需要親眼所見才能相信，」哈里伯頓說。 “這將有助於他們了解這不是尖端技術，但它已經過相當多的測試，現在可以部署。”

“There are multiple business owners in the community already considering this approach,” he added.

「社區中有多個企業主已經在考慮這種方法，」他補充道。

How the Arctic bitcoin mine works

北極比特幣礦場如何運作

Mining rigs are designed to perform intense computational processes, and they get quite hot. There are a few ways to cool them down, such as with fans or by immersing them in big tubs of dielectric fluid.

採礦設備被設計用來執行密集的計算過程，並且它們會變得非常熱。有幾種方法可以冷卻它們，例如使用風扇或將它們浸入大桶介電液中。

Sazmining’s operation – which will have 2.6 megawatts (MW) of total energy capacity – will use a different method: running coolant into the machines themselves through small channels that absorb the heat, then extract it and push it out to the rest of the building.

Sazmining 的營運總能源容量為 2.6 兆瓦 (MW)，將使用不同的方法：透過吸收熱量的小通道將冷卻劑注入機器本身，然後將其提取並推送到建築物的其他部分。

The set-up comes with unique infrastructural challenges. For example, the firm needs to make sure not to generate too much heat and make people in the building uncomfortable, Halliburton said, which is why the miner, quite paradoxically, had to also install a dry cooler on top of the building to help regulate the temperature.

該設置面臨獨特的基礎設施挑戰。哈利伯頓說，例如，該公司需要確保不會產生過多的熱量，使建築物內的人們感到不舒服，這就是為什麼礦工還必須在建築物頂部安裝一個乾式冷卻器來幫助調節，這非常矛盾。

But it does come with perks, too. Liquid cooling means the machines will be very quiet and won’t bother anyone in the building. Visitors will be able to see the mining rigs through a plexiglass wall, Halliburton said.

但它也確實帶來了好處。液體冷卻意味著機器將非常安靜，不會打擾建築物中的任何人。哈里伯頓說，遊客將能夠透過有機玻璃牆看到採礦設備。

It’s not the first operation looking to recycle the heat produced by its own mining machines. There’s a spa in Manhattan that uses a similar process for its swimming pools, and it’s not unheard of for solo miners to warm up their apartments or greenhouses this way, either.

這並不是第一家尋求回收自有採礦機產生的熱量的公司。曼哈頓有一家水療中心，其游泳池採用了類似的工藝，單獨礦工以這種方式為公寓或溫室取暖的情況也並非聞所未聞。

Win-win?

雙贏？

Sazmining has two other mining locations: one in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and another in Paraguay. The firm’s business model involves allowing retail investors to buy their own mining rigs and let Sazmining operate them in a carbon-neutral fashion for a 15% share of one’s block rewards, according to the company’s website.

Sazmining 還有另外兩個採礦地點：一個位於美國威斯康辛州，另一個位於巴拉圭。據該公司網站稱，該公司的商業模式包括允許散戶投資者購買自己的採礦設備，並讓 Sazmining 以碳中和的方式運作這些設備，以獲得區塊獎勵的 15% 份額。

The Norwegian project wasn’t really conceived as an experiment, Halliburton said. Mining has become incredibly competitive in the wake of the fourth Bitcoin halving (which cut mining profitability by 50%), and the deal simply made economic sense for both parties involved.

哈利伯頓說，挪威的計畫並不是真正被視為一項實驗。在比特幣第四次減半（挖礦獲利能力下降 50%）之後，挖礦業的競爭變得異常激烈，而這筆交易對雙方來說都具有經濟意義。

“The building is paying us for the heat instead of having to pay for oil for the boiler,” he said. Norway’s abundance of hydropower means that electricity is very cheap, and that the mining operation will be running almost completely on green energy.

他說：“大樓向我們支付暖氣費，而不必支付鍋爐油費。”挪威豐富的水力發電意味著電力非常便宜，採礦作業幾乎完全依賴綠色能源運作。

In fact, with a service fee of $0.046 per kilowatt hour, Sazmining clients should be able to acquire bitcoin for less than $54,000, Halliburton said. For comparison, B Riley Securities recently said that the estimated average power costs for the sector is around $0.045 per kilowatt-hour. (Bitcoin’s price is currently just below $70,000.)

Halliburton 表示，事實上，以每千瓦時 0.046 美元的服務費，Sazmining 客戶應該能夠以低於 54,000 美元的價格購買比特幣。相比之下，B Riley Securities 最近表示，預計該行業的平均電力成本約為每千瓦時 0.045 美元。 （比特幣的價格目前略低於 70,000 美元。）

“There’s just this excess thing that we can turn into money,” he said. “Basically, we’re using an electron to hash [mine bitcoin], but we can use that same electron to heat the place. You get two uses for the same electron.”

「我們可以把多餘的東西變成錢，」他說。 「基本上，我們使用電子來哈希[挖掘比特幣]，但我們可以使用相同的電子來加熱這個地方。同一個電子有兩種用途。

However, it remains to be seen if everyone else in the nation feels as positive about it. Norwegian lawmakers moved earlier this year to put restrictions on bitcoin mining as part of an effort to provide a proper regulatory framework for data centers of all kinds.

然而，全國其他人是否對此持正面態度還有待觀察。挪威立法者今年稍早採取行動，對比特幣挖礦施加限制，作為為各類資料中心提供適當監管框架的一部分。

Bitcoin mining “is associated with large greenhouse-gas emissions and is an example of a type of business we do not want in Norway,” Terje Aasland, the

比特幣挖礦“與大量溫室氣體排放有關，是我們在挪威不想要的一種業務的一個例子”，Terje Aasland，