Hi all,
I've been mining bitcoins for about about a month now. I have 5 5870 on 3 different computers and have pulled in close to 1500 BTC. Rough calculations indicate I'll have paid for my hardware investment in another month and a half. (WOOT!)
All this is good, but then I started to do the calculations on my electric usage and figured my bill will be around $100 to $150 per month (not including cooling costs). While it is still profitable to run my computers even in the summer months when cooling costs will run me much more, I had a twinge of guilt when I watched a video about Tim DeCrhistoper and his successful attempt to derail the Bush administration's attempt at auctioning off BLM land for oil development. (see
http://climatecrocks.com/2011/02/22/tim-dechristopher-a-monkey-wrencher-comes-to-trial/) He soon faces trail where he may end up spending 10 years in jail for his actions. Yet I've considered running my systems 24/7 at the expense of oil and coal usage. (Aappalachia strip coal mining is actually just as destructive as the oil extraction process.)
Right now, the electricity I use is not waisted as these systems heat my home and I would normally need to run my heater for these winter months. Actually my electric heating bill is 50% less because the computers act as space heaters and are much more efficient than my central heating system. So for these winter months, my electric consumption is down. However, the summer months will be approaching and I've been struggling with balancing my "greed" for more bitcoins vs. being socially responsible.
In the process of wandering through links on climatecrooks.com, I stumbled upon a video entitled "Plug-in Hybrids: Renewable Energy Solution of the Month" (
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSdnycHfLnQ&p=2EF0E2B9498E328E). This video outlined how the use of electric cars will actually make the electric grid more efficient by using smart grid technology. The cool thing here is the electric grid usage graph that starts in at about minute 3 in the video. It turns out that electric companies actually have a lot of waisted electricity between the hours of about 7pm and 9am and a peak where they have to turn on extra generators at about 12pm to 3pm. What smart grid electric systems will do is borrow electricity from electric car owners during peak hours and re-charge the cars at night. There is even speculation than electric companies will pay electric car owners for this service.
So, now I've come to my solution. I've decided that I will continue mining in the summer months only between the hours of 7pm and 9am when electric companies are waisting electricity anyhow. Here is my reasoning:
1. By my rough estimates of increased mining difficulty and the electricity cost to make those bitcoins, I figure in 2 to 3 months, it will cost $.30 to $.40 to make each bitcoin. Assuming cooling costs will double the cost of those coins and that in the summer months and that the price of bitcoins holds at about $.90 to $1, I would only make $.2 per bitcoin. The missed profit is not that that great.
2. The heat during the day hours would make my home uncomfortable.
3. Even if my electric bill is higher because of mining, I will still be acting responsibly, as the electricity used would have been waisted anyhow.
