Today, Bitcoin mining leader Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) launched an innovative pilot project to recycle heat generated from Bitcoin mining to heat a community in Finland. The 2-megawatt data center, which began operations at the end of May, is located in the Satakunta region, home to 11,000 residents.
Update: Marathon to heat Finnish town of over 11,000 people #Bitcoin Mining 🤯🇫🇮
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 20, 2024
“This pilot project in Finland is an important step in our strategy for global expansion and sustainable innovation,” said Fred Thiel, chairman and CEO of Marathon. “We’re not just producing digital assets – we’re also warming homes and integrating sustainable practices into our business model. We believe innovations like this will help drive the development of the digital asset computing industry and further strengthen Marathon’s leading position in the field.”
The initiative marks Marathon’s first district heating project and its debut in Europe. District heating involves centrally heating water and running it through underground pipes to heat local buildings. Finland, known for its clean energy mix, makes extensive use of biomass for district heating. By utilizing heat from a digital asset data center, the project aims to reduce carbon emissions and operational costs.
Marathon ASIC Heating Settings
“Europe’s cold climate has spawned an extensive network of district heating systems that provide warmth to millions of residents,” Marathon says in its new “Heating with Hash” report, published in full below. “This same climate is attracting another industry: data centers, which benefit from the reduced energy consumption and infrastructure costs associated with cooler temperatures. The share of electricity consumed by data centers in the EU is at least double the global average, with data centers accounting for around 3% of the EU’s electricity consumption, compared to 1.0-1.5% globally. These energy-intensive facilities generate three times as much heat, creating unique opportunities for strategic partnerships with district heating systems.”
“One industry needs heat, the other produces lots of it,” Marathon continues in the report. “Rather than wasting the vast amounts of heat that data centers generate, it can be recycled to meet heating demand. This innovation turns unwanted by-products from data centers into a valuable resource for district heating systems, reducing costs and waste for all involved, while also reducing the need for inefficient, carbon-emitting heat sources.”
The excitement of the marathon is in the Hash Report
The project is part of Marathon’s broader sustainability efforts, expanding its footprint to 12 locations across four continents. The district heating market is forecast to grow from $198 billion to $340 billion by 2033, according to Future Market Insights Inc, creating significant growth opportunities. By recycling heat, Marathon aims to strengthen its sustainability portfolio and explore new revenue streams in line with its goal of achieving zero-cost power for digital asset computing.
“Following our success, Pilot Project “In Utah, we’ve demonstrated that using landfill gas for digital asset computation can be economically and environmentally beneficial, but we continue to look for innovative ways our operation can add value beyond the security of a distributed ledger like Bitcoin,” said Adam Swick, Marathon’s Chief Growth Officer. “This pilot project in Finland is our first attempt to convert heat generated as a by-product of our operations into a valuable resource for the local community. We look forward to gathering more data from this project as we explore further ways to leverage digital asset computation to build a more sustainable future.”
For more information on Marathon’s sustainability efforts, please visit their website. hereTo read the full Marathon “Heating with Hashes” report, please see below.
