北极圈比特币矿将为渔村的一座建筑供暖

专注于零售业的 Sazmining 正在挪威的一个小渔镇利用水力发电开展小型比特币挖矿业务。

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

一个比特币（BTC）矿场即将来到北极圈。

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.

这个占地 350 平方米的设施由零售导向型比特币挖矿公司 Sazmining 设计，将位于挪威海岸的一个小渔村。一旦 12 月 1 日上线，它很可能成为世界上最北的采矿作业。

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.

伟大的想法？要拆除该镇最大的建筑物之一使用的旧燃油锅炉，将其替换为以比特币为中心的内部数据中心，并利用采矿设备产生的巨大热量为建筑物供暖。

“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 首席执行官肯特·哈利伯顿 (Kent Halliburton) 在接受 CoinDesk 采访时表示：“在世界这个地区，热量是一种非常重要的资源。” “一年中大部分时间气温都是负20摄氏度。 ......[来自机器的]一部分热量实际上将被分流到干鱼上，这是那里经济的一部分。”

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.

虽然哈里伯顿不希望在该设施投入使用之前公布该设施的确切位置，但他表示该项目旨在向其他北极居民展示比特币开采提供的可能性。

“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.”

“对于当地人来说，这有点像，你需要亲眼所见才能相信，”哈里伯顿说。 “这将有助于他们了解这不是尖端技术，但它已经过相当多的测试，现在可以部署。”

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

“社区中有多个企业主已经在考虑这种方法，”他补充道。

How the Arctic bitcoin mine works

北极比特币矿场如何运作

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.

采矿设备被设计用来执行密集的计算过程，并且它们会变得非常热。有几种方法可以冷却它们，例如使用风扇或将它们浸入大桶介电液中。

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 的运营总能源容量为 2.6 兆瓦 (MW)，将使用不同的方法：通过吸收热量的小通道将冷却剂注入机器本身，然后将其提取并推送到建筑物的其他部分。

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.

该设置面临着独特的基础设施挑战。哈利伯顿说，例如，该公司需要确保不会产生过多的热量，使建筑物内的人们感到不舒服，这就是为什么矿工还必须在建筑物顶部安装一个干式冷却器来帮助调节，这非常矛盾。温度。

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.

但它也确实带来了好处。液体冷却意味着机器将非常安静，不会打扰建筑物中的任何人。哈里伯顿说，游客将能够通过有机玻璃墙看到采矿设备。

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.

这并不是第一家寻求回收自有采矿机产生的热量的公司。曼哈顿有一家水疗中心，其游泳池采用了类似的工艺，单独矿工以这种方式为公寓或温室取暖的情况也并非闻所未闻。

Win-win?

双赢？

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 还有另外两个采矿地点：一个位于美国威斯康星州，另一个位于巴拉圭。据该公司网站称，该公司的商业模式包括允许散户投资者购买自己的采矿设备，并让 Sazmining 以碳中和的方式运营这些设备，以获得区块奖励的 15% 份额。

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.

哈利伯顿说，挪威的项目并不是真正被视为一项实验。在比特币第四次减半（挖矿盈利能力下降 50%）之后，挖矿业的竞争变得异常激烈，而这笔交易对双方来说都具有经济意义。

“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.

他说：“大楼向我们支付取暖费，而不必支付锅炉油费。”挪威丰富的水力发电意味着电力非常便宜，并且采矿作业几乎完全依靠绿色能源运行。

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，事实上，以每千瓦时 0.046 美元的服务费，Sazmining 客户应该能够以低于 54,000 美元的价格购买比特币。相比之下，B Riley Securities 最近表示，预计该行业的平均电力成本约为每千瓦时 0.045 美元。 （比特币的价格目前略低于 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.”

“我们可以把多余的东西变成钱，”他说。 “基本上，我们使用电子来哈希[挖掘比特币]，但我们可以使用相同的电子来加热这个地方。同一个电子有两种用途。”

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，全国其他人是否对此持积极态度还有待观察。挪威立法者今年早些时候采取行动，对比特币挖矿施加限制，作为为各类数据中心提供适当监管框架的一部分。

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

比特币挖矿“与大量温室气体排放有关，是我们在挪威不想要的一种业务的一个例子”，Terje Aasland，