Ted Cruz Says Bitcoin Mining Can Fix Texas' Crumbling Electric Grid (vice.com) 289
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Texas' energy grid has problems. Those issues were laid bare this past winter when a storm put the state in a deep freeze, causing blackouts for millions and killing hundreds of people. Sen. Ted Cruz told a cryptocurrency conference in Austin last week that he believes the state's Bitcoin mining boom could repair its floundering energy grid. In a fireside chat at the Texas Blockchain Summit on Oct. 8, the Republican senator expressed his faith that the mass buildout of crypto mines in the Lone Star State could add additional energy capacity to the state's grid in the event of blackouts or power shortages. "Because of the ability to Bitcoin mining to turn on or off instantaneously, if you have a moment where you have a power shortage or a power crisis, whether it's a freeze or some other natural disaster where power generation capacity goes down, that creates the capacity to instantaneously shift that energy to put it back on the grid," Cruz told conference attendees.
Bitcoin mines, which typically consist of rooms full of specialized computers that churn numbers all day in search of the answer to a puzzle that creates the next block on the blockchain, are notorious for their energy use. Bitcoin mining is well-known to use more energy than many countries and corporations, and it's designed to become more difficult (and thus use more energy) as more miners plug into the network in search of profits as the price of Bitcoin increases. But in the event that the grid is being overburdened, these mines are essentially industrial energy consumers that can shut down instantaneously, freeing up additional grid space for the heating and cooling of homes, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure. Already, some miners in Texas are making a killing by shutting down during such times and selling their contracted power supply back to the grid. Texas is the perfect candidate for this setup, Cruz said, and Bitcoin mining could play "a significant role [in] strengthening and hardening the resilience of the grid." Tim De Chant from Ars Technica says the numbers and potential incentives that Sen. Ted Cruz touts "just don't add up." Here's why he thinks Cruz is wrong: First, large bitcoin-mining operations use hundreds or thousands of powerful computers, which create a demand for power. If power plants can profitably mine bitcoin using the electricity they generate -- and there are examples of that already -- it stands to reason that bitcoin mining could create enough demand that investors would be enticed to build new power plants. Those plants could theoretically be tasked with providing power to the grid in cases of emergency. At first glance, the argument holds up. But if you dig into it, even just a bit, things quickly fall apart.
For one, the blackouts during Texas' February cold snap happened because power companies failed to winterize their generators, whether they were natural gas, coal, nuclear, or wind. Lives were at stake, and yet the companies didn't prepare for the worst. Unlike power plants that serve the grid, bitcoin mining isn't critical infrastructure -- no one dies if a crypto data center shuts down. Plus, bitcoin miners are in the game first and foremost for the money, and they would be loath to spend extra cash to winterize their operations. But let's say the power stays on but demand surges. In that case, bitcoin miners would be unlikely to offer their generating capacity to the grid unless they were sufficiently compensated. Texas already has a system like that in place, offering generators a premium for bringing additional power online during shortages. During the February cold snap, wholesale electricity prices surged to $9,000 per MWh, the maximum allowed by law, leading to electricity bills as high as $10,000 for some people.
One bitcoin currently sells for $57,000, and to crunch the numbers to win that one bitcoin, mining rigs draw just under 0.285 MWh, based on Digiconomist estimates. In other words, for bitcoin miners to be willing to contribute to the grid, wholesale electricity prices would have to hit $206,000 per MWh, or nearly 23 times greater than prices during the February cold snap. Those $10,000 bills would turn into $230,000 bills. [...] At today's prices, the power plants that Ted Cruz is imagining would cost over $50 billion to build. At that price, there are probably more effective ways to stabilize Texas' grid.
Bitcoin mines, which typically consist of rooms full of specialized computers that churn numbers all day in search of the answer to a puzzle that creates the next block on the blockchain, are notorious for their energy use. Bitcoin mining is well-known to use more energy than many countries and corporations, and it's designed to become more difficult (and thus use more energy) as more miners plug into the network in search of profits as the price of Bitcoin increases. But in the event that the grid is being overburdened, these mines are essentially industrial energy consumers that can shut down instantaneously, freeing up additional grid space for the heating and cooling of homes, hospitals, and other critical infrastructure. Already, some miners in Texas are making a killing by shutting down during such times and selling their contracted power supply back to the grid. Texas is the perfect candidate for this setup, Cruz said, and Bitcoin mining could play "a significant role [in] strengthening and hardening the resilience of the grid." Tim De Chant from Ars Technica says the numbers and potential incentives that Sen. Ted Cruz touts "just don't add up." Here's why he thinks Cruz is wrong: First, large bitcoin-mining operations use hundreds or thousands of powerful computers, which create a demand for power. If power plants can profitably mine bitcoin using the electricity they generate -- and there are examples of that already -- it stands to reason that bitcoin mining could create enough demand that investors would be enticed to build new power plants. Those plants could theoretically be tasked with providing power to the grid in cases of emergency. At first glance, the argument holds up. But if you dig into it, even just a bit, things quickly fall apart.
For one, the blackouts during Texas' February cold snap happened because power companies failed to winterize their generators, whether they were natural gas, coal, nuclear, or wind. Lives were at stake, and yet the companies didn't prepare for the worst. Unlike power plants that serve the grid, bitcoin mining isn't critical infrastructure -- no one dies if a crypto data center shuts down. Plus, bitcoin miners are in the game first and foremost for the money, and they would be loath to spend extra cash to winterize their operations. But let's say the power stays on but demand surges. In that case, bitcoin miners would be unlikely to offer their generating capacity to the grid unless they were sufficiently compensated. Texas already has a system like that in place, offering generators a premium for bringing additional power online during shortages. During the February cold snap, wholesale electricity prices surged to $9,000 per MWh, the maximum allowed by law, leading to electricity bills as high as $10,000 for some people.
One bitcoin currently sells for $57,000, and to crunch the numbers to win that one bitcoin, mining rigs draw just under 0.285 MWh, based on Digiconomist estimates. In other words, for bitcoin miners to be willing to contribute to the grid, wholesale electricity prices would have to hit $206,000 per MWh, or nearly 23 times greater than prices during the February cold snap. Those $10,000 bills would turn into $230,000 bills. [...] At today's prices, the power plants that Ted Cruz is imagining would cost over $50 billion to build. At that price, there are probably more effective ways to stabilize Texas' grid.
In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
"We have no idea how to build a stable power grid for Texas, but hey, cryptocurrency should do it - blockchain is the answer to everything!"
Re: In other words (Score:4, Insightful)
Agreed.
The project for Texas to migrate to the YucatÃn did not work out as expected
Re:In other words (Score:5, Funny)
"We have no idea how to build a stable power grid for Texas, but hey, cryptocurrency should do it - blockchain is the answer to everything! Hell, let's also throw in quantum microservice IOT edge cloud deep AI."
FTFY
Re: (Score:2, Troll)
Mod parent Funny, but no joke can be Funny enough to capture the magnificent stupidity and intellectual dishonesty of Lyin' Ted.
"Wasting power shall save power!" -- Ted Cruz, 2021
What? You doubt the accuracy of my quotation? How dare you. And Lyin' Ted has said hundreds of stupider lies. Truth and Ted Cruz are incommensurable concepts. Not even in the same frames of reality.
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That kind-of makes sense.
Some power plants, like coal or nuclear, cannot quickly start and stop based on demand. It takes a long time to warm up the boiler.
However, if the power plant could be kept running, providing power to bitcoin miners (at a reduced price with the condition that electricity could be shut off at any time), it is profitable and, if there is higher "normal" demand on the grid, the miners get disconnected and the power plant provides power to the grid without delay.
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... if the power plant could be kept running...
That's the $64K question right there. As TFS says: the blackouts during Texas' February cold snap happened because power companies failed to winterize their generators. There isn't a question of capacity.
And some bitcoin miners do exactly as you suggest: they buy cheap electricity, and shut down when prices increase. [yahoo.com]
Re: In other words (Score:5, Informative)
Re:In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
Pretty much like the most unpalatable form of farm subsidies where governments buy crops and light them on fire to promote excess so that production will be adequate even if it falls due to a blight or whatever.
Re:In other words (Score:5, Informative)
That assumes you have some system of turning off the crypto miners when supply is limited. In practice crypto miners tend not to want to turn their expensive rigs off for anything.
Re:In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
One key to resilience is overcapacity
That is certainly true, but it does seem a bit bonkers to build overcapacity, and then throw it away on something as useless as bitcoin mining.
I understand that there are industries that are heavy consumers of electricity, who get discounts for turning off their juice, to balance the grid. One I read about was asphalt depots, which keep the stuff hot and ready for immediate delivery. They don't need to keep the heat on all day, because the storage can retain heat for quite a while. So they do a deal with the electric companies, to buy electricity when the demand from other consumers is low. That makes sense.
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Actually, his idea isn't totally stupid. A user of power that can rapidly discontinue use when more power is needed would help pay for a more capacious (and durable?) power system.
But BitCoin??? Last I heard it was barely profitable (when all costs are counted) even in very favorable circumstances. Unless you subsidize it, perhaps by stealing power from some source, or via government regulations.
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It is profitable but not if you use big computers like this article implies. You use purpose built ASICs. About 25% of the hashing power just went offline so it just got about 25% more profitable. Of course... that is drawing attention as seen here. At the end of the day the market price will always rise above the cost to mine because miners won't sell at a price that isn't profitable and
Re: In other words (Score:4, Informative)
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If "Ted Cruze says stupid shit" is news, then we'd be up to our eyes in it every day.
Fire whoever approved this one!
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To paraphrase that old money saying, it takes electricity to make electricity ...
Senator Cruz also wants utilities to stockpile instant water, in case of water shortages.
Re:In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
"We have no idea how to build a stable power grid for Texas, but hey, cryptocurrency should do it - blockchain is the answer to everything!"
I think they already know everything they need to do to build a stable power grid - it's just that those needs don't sit well with their ideology. Making the grid government-owned, killing profiteering, penalizing private contractors who gouge or under-perform, connecting with grids in neighbouring states - all of these are anathema to the ruggedly individualistic capitalist brand of religion that Texas embraces so defiantly.
Re:In other words (Score:5, Insightful)
I think they already know everything they need to do to build a stable power grid - it's just that those needs don't sit well with their ideology. Making the grid government-owned, killing profiteering, penalizing private contractors who gouge or under-perform, connecting with grids in neighbouring states - all of these are anathema to the ruggedly individualistic capitalist brand of religion that Texas embraces so defiantly.
There are some things that should be run for profit, but the Power grid is not one of them. And Texas needs to spend some money to get their grid in some semblance of shape to reconnect to the national grid. The weather that brought Texas to it's knees this past winter was standard fare here in the Northeast.
But more to your point, rugged individualism can work as long as there is some intelligence in it's application. Right now, despite Texas citizens who hold the power believe they are on the side of freedom, their actions remind me of the old Soviet Union, where ideology trumped rational thought.
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"We have no idea how to build a stable power grid for Texas, but hey, cryptocurrency should do it - blockchain is the answer to everything!"
The problem for Teddy boy is that they have to have a functioning grid to mine cryptocurrency.
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"We have no idea how to build a stable power grid for Texas, but hey, cryptocurrency should do it - blockchain is the answer to everything!"
Indeed. Is this guy really this stupid?
Re:In other words (Score:4, Interesting)
"California is now unable to perform even basic functions of civilization, like having reliable electricity. Biden/Harris/AOC want to make CA’s failed energy policy the standard nationwide. Hope you don’t like air conditioning!" - Ted Cruz, 2020.
"The corporate media are advocating that we wear masksforever." - Ted Cruz, 2021
So yes.
Without fiat to give it value.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Did you ever notice how the bitcoin bros are always boasting about its price, all while trashing fiat currencies? And how they always use a fiat value to compare its price with?
Without fiat to give it value, their precious gold/bitcoin is worthless.
Re:Without fiat to give it value.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Without fiat value, gold would still be an expensive electrical conductor. I read that its pure industrial value would be around $350/oz.
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Industrial use of gold is 8% of the total market.
92% of demand for gold is investment, jewelry, and central banks... which are pretty close to investment.
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I sincerely doubt that.
Industrial use of gold is 8% of the total market.
92% of demand for gold is investment, jewelry, and central banks... which are pretty close to investment.
And comparison to gold is a good one for bitcoin. volatile AF. One of the interesting things about gold investments is that when it gets really high, the activity slows down a lot.
I have precious metals in my portfolio. But I only sell them at where I think it is peaking. Sort of a crapshoot, and there are times I hang onto them much longer than I would like
And this is the trouble. The amount of money it will take to put the Texas Power grid in shape is pretty high. So that means they will have to mine
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I sincerely doubt that.
Industrial use of gold is 8% of the total market.
92% of demand for gold is investment, jewelry, and central banks... which are pretty close to investment.
And comparison to gold is a good one for bitcoin. volatile AF. One of the interesting things about gold investments is that when it gets really high, the activity slows down a lot.
The difference being if the economy goes to crap and you own gold, you have a physical substance that has uses outside of its store of value. Bitcoin, on the other hand, has no physical existence.
I really wish all the crypto zealots would go read a book Debt: The first 5000 years [google.com]. They would learn the history of money, how it came into existence and how it evolved over time. Crypto offers nothing new or useful; it is essentially the same as the ancient priests of Sumer carefully recording debts and credi
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"you have a physical substance that has uses"
Other than jewelry, what uses does gold have, particularly if the economy goes to crap? Sure its a good capacitor, but if the economy falls apart I can't see a huge everyday use or demand for gold regarding the standard food/shelter/clothing and/or security needs.
I think you'd be better off hoarding alcohol, drugs, or even TP. When the apocalypse happens, I'll be much more likely jonesing for whiskey or decent TP than a bar of gold.
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DogeCoin is where it's at!
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Without fiat to give it value, their precious gold/bitcoin is worthless.
Wait, your point is that gold has no value without fiat currency? I think you are confused about how money works.
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If someone sent you a bitcoin, I'm assuming you would delete it? Since they're worthless after all.
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If someone sent you a bitcoin, I'm assuming you would delete it? Since they're worthless after all.
I'd ask them to convert it to dollars then give me the dollars.
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Some guy: A decent escort costs $1000/HR
You: Hah! You ever notice how those fine ass ladies are always boasting about their price in fiat. Without fiat to give it value their precious mind blowing orgies would be WORTHLESS!
P.S. The same is true in reverse, you judge the value of fiat by what it can buy. Currencies in turn are valued against each other and this is how they are exchanged on the global market which is called the FOREX or Foreign Exchange. Here are some quot
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Aww I have my own dedicated troll. He's so cute!
I gots me one too. Mine is defective though, with some severe psychosexual issues.
He'll probably come out now to say something funny.
Cruz? (Score:3, Insightful)
He'll cut power to your house before he cuts off the crypto miners.
So, what's the "other side" offering?
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
From Cancun [cnbc.com] at that.
Re:Cruz? (Score:5, Insightful)
He is such a piece of shit. The first thing he does after getting caught is blame his daughters for wanting to go on this vacation. Then his story changes to he was just dropping them off in Mexico and getting right back on the plane. Then he claims he was going to work remotely. Fuck him. While he was running away to Mexico AOC went to Texas and raised $4 million in aid for residents. https://www.chron.com/news/hou... [chron.com] Ted Cruz loaded a case of water into a car for a photo op https://www.businessinsider.co... [businessinsider.com]
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He is such a piece of shit. The first thing he does after getting caught is blame his daughters for wanting to go on this vacation.
Of course. He's a Republican. That's what they do, blame women. It's why they're trying to ban abortions. They want to punish women by keeping them tied down to their kids. Even if they've been raped and are 12 years old.
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They do live in the state that seceded from two countries in an effort to keep their slaves.
We keep hearing about Texas seceding.
Is there some way we can kick them out?
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Just like the Dems...
Which Democrat went to Cancun while Texans were freezing to death because the power failed? And then lied about it?
...there are, or should be, smarter conservatives on th menu... order them.
But there aren't, and there won't be because Trump owns the party now, and he doesn't want smarter conservatives. He wants yes-men.
Re:Cruz? (Score:5, Insightful)
Nah. Just like the Dems, they could elect better people to office. Not rocket science, yet whatever science they're inclined to employ, there are, or should be, smarter conservatives on th menu... order them.
The problem is that the Republican party is not actually conservative now. They don't really stand for anything. Their core competency is mainly obstruction. But even then, they've become sort of schizophrenic.
Trump took them in what is best described as a sort of "Fuck you!" populism direction. Even then, his insecurity caused him to be prone to ass kissing, and attempts to destroy anyone who didn't, osculate his rectum.
In the end, they are a hot mess of people for whom the law is irrelevant, and have a one platform party - Return Trump to kingship.
And that sure as hell ain't conservatism.
I have a dream that Barry Goldwater returns from the dead and beats them all with the jawbone of an ass.
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He is such a piece of shit. The first thing he does after getting caught is blame his daughters for wanting to go on this vacation. Then his story changes to he was just dropping them off in Mexico and getting right back on the plane. Then he claims he was going to work remotely. Fuck him. While he was running away to Mexico AOC went to Texas and raised $4 million in aid for residents. 2">https://www.businessinsider.co...
But the people of Texas continue to elect him, so they must approve of him and his actions, because he represents Texan's values.
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So, what's the "other side" offering?
If by "the other side", you mean sensible people, the solution is to connect Texas to the national grid.
Wide geographic distribution will even out local peaks and troughs in supply and demand.
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So, what's the "other side" offering?
If by "the other side", you mean sensible people, the solution is to connect Texas to the national grid.
Wide geographic distribution will even out local peaks and troughs in supply and demand.
Bingo. There is not a Republican grid and a Socialist grid. Grids are grids. And no way in hell should power distribution be run for a profit.
The amazing thing is that they never learned from Enron.
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You think companies are moving to Texas for the benefit of their employees?
Re:Cruz? (Score:5, Insightful)
most Texans rather ... deal with a power blackout than flirt with socialism.
The North American power grid is a competitive market operated by profit-seeking capitalists.
It is the polar opposite of "socialism".
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It is the polar opposite of "socialism".
Ahh yes, heavy subsidy to business is the polar opposite of socialism - where those funds would be rolled back to citizens.
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Woosh...
...and company towns responded "hold my beer" (Score:5, Insightful)
Since urban areas in the US are such a failure with urban flight at redline, how can companies do worse?
Dude, I've been to Texas...rural and urban. I've lived in small towns and big cities. With the exception of Austin, Texas really doesn't compete too well. If you think urban areas are failures, you're sorely mistaken. Mediocre houses go for over asking in my urban area and close quickly. In my area, you cannot say that about the suburbs or small town. Why? People want to live in urban areas, close to their offices, even during pandemics shockingly. I am confident you can't say that about the overwhelming vast majority of non-city areas. They like the amenities, the lifestyle, the people, and various other things. If people didn't like living in cities, no one would pay extra for the privilege.
Some loudmouths make a big show about leaving...and then guess what, someone else quickly takes their place. The urban exodus is greatly overstated. Also, all those jobs coming in? They're mostly going to Austin...for all those talented liberals engineers you despise. The rest of your state is not even in the top 10 of places for businesses to expand. BTW, all of those who made a big show? They still employ tons of people in the Bay Area. Why? They want and need the talent there...it's not out of charity or cost-effectiveness, it's because the people make it worth it.
How can company towns be worse? Well, for starters, they have no economic incentive to do it well and they have no experience doing it and the few companies that have done it long ago have been quite abusive.
Most companies can only do a small number of things well. While I am an android guy, Apple makes great tablets, good phones and great laptops...beyond that, it there are a few good products, but they start getting much more hit and miss. Apple Arcade is shit. Apple TV+ has really struggled. Their peripherals are total garbage. Their cables suck. All of their software is garbage. Really...every software product they've put out is shockingly bad....the "reverse midas" touch in regards to coding. So yeah, they make devices really well, and very little else. An Apple town, would just be Apple Arcade, only worse because running a town is MUCH harder and much farther out of their wheelhouse.
Doing cities well is really hard and no company has done it well. Musk, with all his brilliance and wealth would likely get very frustrated with the mundane nuances needed to make a town successful. It requires a lot of understanding of diverse human beings, which is not really his biggest strength. All in all, the best he can home for is to replicate Michael Jordan's success at being a baseball player.
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Apple makes great tablets, good phones and great laptops
You've clearly been using different apple laptops from me. The macbook pros are deeply medicore. Poor thermals, very noisy, prone to overheating related problems with the thunderbolt chip (which includes charging!), prone to throttling, mediocre keyboard (compared to awful for the previous gen butterfly one), shiny screens, lack of ports (yay dongles just what I always wanted).
Oh also poor repairability.
The laptops are not very good.
Re: (Score:3)
He'll cut power to your house before he cuts off the crypto miners.
So, what's the "other side" offering?
The Guvner will sacrifice humans for money as well. We're seeing him trying to insert government force into the Texas airlines, demanding that they are not allowed to have vaccine mandates.
The airlines have told him to pound sand, as they fly around the country and the world.
Before anyone mods this offtopic remember that the grid was privatized to insure profit over lives.
That's a boon for wind power (Score:2)
I can already hear the windmills turning faster with all the handwaving about freedum and Texass and how renewables suck the cold down from the arctic and strip the weatherproofing off the gas generators.
Ted Cruz Plan to Save World Hunger! (Score:5, Funny)
It is a four step process. It will all be very clear once I give you the details:
1 There is a shortage.
2 Create more demand
3 ...
4 Profit
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Wait... I thought Californians fled to Texas to leave behind all the problems of California? Rolling blackouts being one of them?
The logic of this profit is astounding (Score:5, Insightful)
If you have a moment where you have a power shortage or a power crisis, whether it's a freeze or some other natural disaster where power generation capacity goes down, that creates the capacity to instantaneously shift that energy to put it back on the grid,
Brilliant! Give this man the Nobel Prize! Let's use a power plant to generate Bitcoin, so that, when the power goes down, we can use the power plant to generate more electricity!
Oh wait...
Texas, you wanna know what's wrong with your state? Two words: Ted Cruz.
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There are days when you just can't make this shit up.
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The scary part is the guy wins elections because he represents the voters.
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The scary part is the guy wins elections because he represents the voters.
And when the going gets tough, the tough go on a cruise.
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The scary part is the guy wins elections because he represents the voters.
Clearly those elections are rigged.
Not when Republicans win.
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It kind-of makes sense.
Say you have a coal or nuclear power plant that is a bit too expensive to run and not competitive enough under normal circumstances. So it stays cold. Then some problem occurs and there's too much demand for electricity. The prices go up and now your power plant would be profitable. Except it takes a day or two to warm up before you can produce electricity and the entire grid goes down in the mean time.
An alternative would be to get someone to pay for the power plant to run all the ti
Other solutions by Ted Cruz (Score:5, Insightful)
the Republican senator expressed his faith that the mass buildout of crypto mines in the Lone Star State could add additional energy capacity to the state's grid in the event of blackouts or power shortages.
Also Cruz is going to tackle drought problems by passing legislation to build more golf courses.
That could work (Score:2)
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Why Bitcoin is a failure at even its own design (Score:5, Insightful)
Bitcoin's was designed so that people could pay the transaction fee with the spare cycles on their personal computer. i.e. effectively zero additional cost.
Reality: The transaction fees are ridiculously high and miners are spending ridiculous amounts of stolen and dirty power on it.
It really seems like this system is fundamentally flawed: because of the scaling of the difficulty, the high-end miners will always set the transaction fees, so they will always scale with whatever they need to spend on power and hardware to be at the top. This means bitcoin is not just wasteful, it's fundamentally broken even when measured against its own basic goal, which was to make the transaction cost for a funds transfer negligible.
The insane thing is that it might work (Score:2)
Its absurd - increasing energy consumption to produce more energy, but it may do as advertised. In the end of course value is being destroyed, but its value from somewhere else.
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I'm sure they'll be happy to shut down operations (Score:2)
On a side note, they're trying to run Beto O'Rouke again, after he literally told the people of Texas "Hell yeah, I'm gonna take the guns!". This is the guy who lost to Ted Cruz. And the right wing of the Democratic party won't stop trying to shove him down voter's throats.
Is Lying Ted saying government will stop mining? (Score:2)
The big government is going to stop bitcoin mining when the grid fails so they can keep the grid working? Or does this moron really believe the free market will just volunteer to stop usage to help people in their time of need? Like they did NOT do last time when they jacked up the electrical prices to ridiculous levels?
Oh, I get it... he is thinking the miners will STOP because the prices go crazy so only normal people will be ripped off but not as badly because of the drop in demand as the miners switch
Who would do that? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Green energy sources have this problem because solar in particular does
no one dies if a crypto data center shuts down (Score:2)
Er - if someone dies because life critical computing power goes down, someone didn't think the situation through.
Let's add to the idea (Score:2)
Require each mining site to have a few GW of storage, to be put back in the grid, at night, or when required.
Uh..... (Score:2)
Because of the ability to Bitcoin mining to turn on or off instantaneously, if you have a moment where you have a power shortage or a power crisis, whether it's a freeze or some other natural disaster where power generation capacity goes down, that creates the capacity to instantaneously shift that energy to put it back on the grid
Cruz must be really, really dumb, because he obviously doesn't realize that Bitcoin miners are far more greedy than the GOP members (which he is one of), so they would never, ever "turn off instantaneously" willingly to help anyone else but themselves
Can someone please explain this.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Even paying California ass-rape consumer rates of $0.30/KWh, 0.285 MWh will only cost me $85.50.
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$0.30/KWh is $30/MWh. Don't know about your other figures, but not a good look.
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0.30 * 1000 = $30.
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Woops. $300!
wholesale price of power is about $30/megawatt.
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The $206,000 number is close to $57,000 / 0.285. The claim is that if wholesale electricity prices were to increase above this amount, it'd be more profitable for miners to sell their contracts back to the grid and turn off the rigs, but if prices are less than that, it's more profitable to keep mining, and that's always going to be the case.
But the given 0.285 MWh number is wrong. The Digiconomist research [digiconomist.net] cited by the author makes no mention of anything like that, but it does estimate that a single Bitc
Cruz might actually be right. (Score:3)
It is easy enough to make an interconnection requirement for a facility that they provide a certain amount of capacity to the grid during an event. It is also easy enough to have a mining operation direct waste heat to inlet air of a turbine or other critical components. Furthermore, running generators are typically not a problem compared to generators that need to start and stop based on demand. Lastly on the financial argument, between interconnection and business income diversity forgoing mining profits for a few hours per year is a minor cost if it garners you other benefits.
All that said it is still a terrible idea. You would likely need 1GW of mining operations in the state to start to make a dent, or 10GW with supply-following demand optimization. It is wasteful and stupid.
Re: (Score:3)
They could use this extremely controversial method to solve the problem: regulate the industry to winterize their equipment.
Shocking I know.
The power plant operators don't even need to shoulder the full burden of the cost, they could just pass on the costs to the customer.
Good logic (Score:5, Funny)
Ted Cruz also leaves his windows open to his house in the winter to keep his fridge cold while running the heater
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All these smart people and noone gets it? (Score:2)
Its not a bad idea, and not really that complicated.
At night, there is not enough demand for energy, so the grid has to scale down generation somehow. In general, power plants not good nor efficient at doing so, and this requirement affects the profitability of power plants. Sitting idle, they can break down or freeze over, and not be available when needed.
You also have some power which is highly variable, such as wind power, and it can overproduce when power is not needed. Right now its given crazy prefere
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Bitcoin miners are exactly what the grid needs, on multiple levels.
While I appreciate that some power plants do not adapt well to changing demand, I am pretty sure just burning the surplus to keep plant running is not a good way to run a power grid. Superficially, it might look like the energy you burn making bitcoin pays for the energy input, because of the current value of bitcoin. This is not something I would care to rely on.
If you need to dump surplus power at times of low demand, could it not be put to some more useful purpose than fuelling a speculative bubble? One
Even a broken clock is right twice a day. (Score:2)
Wash, Rinse, Repeat (Score:2)
"Ted Cruz says...." /facepalm
"Crumbling" electrical grid (Score:2)
I don't claim to be enough of a math expert to know if Cruz's plan would make financial sense or not, really? But I sure do see a lot of the typical hyperbole with the statements about the condition of the existing power grid. Is it really "crumbling"? I mean, there were a lot of fingers pointed when TX had that big outage, and it sounded to me like a combination of factors. Part of it I heard was that some power plants that COULD have put more power on the grid for people were instead contracted to gen
Next level stupid (Score:2)
You have to be next level stupid to think that this is a good idea, "We fucked up our power grid, so let's put even more demand on it by converting real tangible energy into intangible non-government based fiat currency that only has speculative value". https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
That reminds me ... (Score:3)
That reminds me a clever technique used by ancient explorers.
While crossing the African Savanna they would carry an anvil on their back.
If they are attacked by a lion then they can drop the anvil and run faster.
I give up. What does Cruz do? (Score:3)
So far as I can tell, he basically is no different than a Youtuber that post videos on how to take the perfect selfie that catches duck face and cleavage equally.
Can anyone point to anything in the past 5 years he has actually done which required actual work other than staying awake throughout a senate session?
I suppose he's still better than Schumer who just grumbles and gripes like a dotard in need of an enema.
So that means Ted Cruz just bought (Score:3)
Utterly tone-deaf, clueless, and brain-dead (Score:3)
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People that build datacenter generally build better than politicians that build the grid.
Like somebody else already said, you are an idiot.
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Cruz famously ate a booger, live on national tv, during the 2016 presidential primaries. He also said absolutely nothing when Trump insulted his wife straight to his face, and accused his father of involvement in Kennedy's assass
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The Zodiac Killer https://www.theverge.com/2016/... [theverge.com]
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Republicans are insane. They can't be reasoned with and are violent.
Republicans are quite sane, I think. It is just that everything they do is to further their own interests, and the interests of the Republican Party. Improving the welfare of the citizens they are supposed to represent does not enter into their reasoning.