This is an opinion piece by Ruda Pellini, co-founder and president of Arthur Mining.
The world is no longer the same, it is constantly changing. And this transformation is getting faster and faster. In reality, the “new normal” is constant transformation and the only certainty is change.
The information age has arrived and with it several concepts had to be updated so as not to be destroyed by the new. Paradigm shifts are happening all around us and anyone who does not understand this will quickly fall behind.
The changes bitcoin has already brought and will continue to bring to the world are not just monetary. We are also facing a new energy revolution. And anyone who doesn’t keep abreast of new trends will be confused.
Thinking in this context, I’ve separated seven energy market trends to help you anticipate what’s on the horizon and fast approaching.
1. Renewables will be widely adopted
The transition to renewable energy has reached a point of no return. Over time, this sector will become more and more efficient. Today, in suitable locations, wind and solar energy are already the cheapest and most efficient ways of generating energy.
With popular pressure for a cleaner energy matrix and more investment in research, this trend will intensify.
Another problem is that the perception that fossil fuels are stable energy sources suffered a setback with the invasion of Ukraine and its aftermath. While renewable energy generation can usually occur at or near consumption points, oil and natural gas depend on major global producers, a complex supply chain, and are influenced more by geopolitics.
The only fossil energy source that tends to remain competitive in the medium term as a form of energy production is natural gas.
2. Renewable energy generation operations will be multimodal
A significant portion of energy production in Brazil is hydroelectric. Also, in the country, there are several reservoirs which are basically flat surfaces and since Brazil is a tropical country, they have a high rate of sunshine.
In the future, these reservoirs will serve as solar generation parks and will be integrated with the hydroelectric substation, which will allow the integration and transmission of this generated energy to the electricity grid. In windy locations, wind turbines will also be installed, further increasing the company’s utilization. This logic does not only apply to Brazil, but to all countries where wind and solar energy are viable in the same region.
3. Distributed generation will be widely adopted
Until the beginning of the last decade, there was no distributed power generation. Since then, this form of generation has seen exponential adoption. This trend will continue for a long time, because the penetration of this form of generation is still incipient.
In the future, individual consumers will be able to install their own solar panels on the roof of their house or join small cooperatives, such as condominiums or clubs, and build small electricity generators.
Source of images
Source: Solar Portal
4. Idle Energy Waste Zero Trends
In 2009, mankind invented a technology that enabled the monetization of stranded energy. The name of this technology? Bitcoin mining. Thanks to this process, it is now possible to convert energy into money, no matter where this energy is.
A clear example of this failed energy monetization process is “the combustion of natural gas associated with oil exploration”, aka flaring. Currently, most of this excess gas is flared because it is not economically viable to use it. With bitcoin mining, this scenario has changed and there is a big trend of this gas being used to power bitcoin mining operations.
With this, wasted gas has become monetizable. An example of this logic is that Exxon is launching a bitcoin mining pilot in 2021.
This same logic can be applied to any other form of stranded energy that is not easily accessible, as, for example, with biogas and landfills and landfills.
5. Power grids will become more robust and energy will become cheaper for the consumer
Currently, power grids are designed to produce power to meet peak demand. However, there is no viable way to store this energy and it is idle most of the time when demand is not at its peak.
As a way to monetize excess energy, bitcoin mining enables the construction of oversized networks. These networks will not need to be anchored in calculations aimed at avoiding waste and targeting the peak moment of demand, which always carries the risk of miscalculation and outages.
A consequence of this logic is that without the need to charge the end consumer for excess energy production, the price of energy will drop significantly.
6. Bitcoin mining and energy sectors will merge
We currently consider the mining and energy sectors of bitcoin as two independent sectors, but in the future they will merge.
The characteristics of bitcoin mining make this activity attractive to the energy sector, observable in its early stages. The logic presented in the article above implies that power producers will adopt bitcoin mining as a way to monetize their idle energy.
7. Humanity’s energy-generating capacity will increase dramatically, and with it the degree of human progress
The consequences of the existence of technology that monetizes unused and stranded energy are vast and profound.
Currently, human beings fail to take advantage of a significant part of the energy they produce because it is not possible to transport and store this energy. Thanks to bitcoin mining, this logic will be reversed.
Multiple power sources in remote locations will become economically viable. Here are two clear examples:
The absence of a consumer market near these places has prevented the use of these energy sources by humanity. With the invention of technology that enables the monetization of unused energy, this dynamic has changed.
This also implies that the increase in demand for solar panels, wind turbines and other materials necessary for the production of energy will generate more research and innovation in the sector and, therefore, will make these equipment cheaper. .
The third energy revolution
Finally, remember that energy is the only universal currency. In other words, there is no poverty, but energy poverty. Likewise, having access to more energy will unlock a great revolution in humanity.
Our species has already made two major evolutionary leaps related to opening up different ways of using energy:
1. When we mastered fire and learned to cook, we began to ingest more calories in less time and with that our brains grew.
2. When we started to access energy stored and concentrated for millions of years by geological processes, the so-called fossil fuels, we became an industrial society and our population exploded.
Monetizing idle and stranded energy capacity, whether solar in deserts, wind or geothermal on volcanic islands, will allow us to take the third evolutionary step in terms of energy use.
The world of tomorrow will be a world with an abundance of energy, and therefore an abundance of resources.
This is a guest post by Ruda Pellini. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC, Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.