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Today, Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA), a leader in Bitcoin mining, has launched an innovative pilot project to recycle heat generated from Bitcoin mining to warm a community in Finland. The 2-megawatt data center, energized at the end of May, is located in the Satakunta region, home to 11,000 residents.
JUST IN: Marathon is now warming a town of over 11,000 in Finland using heat from #Bitcoin mining 🤯 🇫🇮
— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) June 20, 2024
“This pilot project in Finland is a critical step forward in our strategy to expand globally and innovate sustainably,” said Fred Thiel, Marathon’s chairman and CEO. “We are not just producing digital assets; we are heating homes and integrating sustainable practices into our business model. We believe that this kind of innovation can drive the advancement of the digital asset compute 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 distributing it through underground pipes to heat local buildings. Finland, known for its clean energy mix, relies heavily on biomass for district heating. By utilizing heat from digital asset data centers, the project aims to reduce carbon emissions and operating costs.
Marathon's ASIC Heating Setup
“Europe’s colder climate has given rise to an extensive network of district heating systems that provide warmth to millions of residents,” Marathon stated in its new Heating with Hashes report, published in full below. “This same climate has attracted a different industry – data centers – which benefit from reduced energy consumption and infrastructure costs associated with the 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 3 significant amounts of heat, creating a unique opportunity for strategic partnerships with district heating systems.”
“One industry needs heat, while the other generates plenty of it,” Marathon continued in the report. “Instead of wasting the abundant heat produced by data centers, it could be recycled to meet heating demand. This innovation transforms an unwanted byproduct of data centers into a valuable resource for district heating systems, reducing costs and waste for everyone involved while reducing the need for inefficient, carbon-emitting heat sources.”
Marathon's Heating with Hashes Report
The project is part of Marathon’s broader commitment to sustainability, expanding its footprint to twelve sites across four continents. According to Future Market Insights Inc, the district heating market is projected to grow from $198 billion to $340 billion by 2033, offering significant growth opportunities. By recycling heat, Marathon aims to enhance its sustainability portfolio and explore new revenue streams, aligning with its goal of achieving zero-cost power for digital asset computing.
“Following the success of our pilot project in Utah, where we demonstrated that it is both economically viable and environmentally beneficial to use landfill gas for digital asset compute, we have continued to experiment with innovative ways that our operations can add value beyond securing distributed ledgers, like Bitcoin’s,” stated Adam Swick, Marathon’s chief growth officer. “This pilot project in Finland is our first attempt to convert the heat that we produce as a byproduct of our operations into a valuable resource for a local community. We look forward to gathering more data from this project as we look for additional ways to leverage digital asset compute to build a more sustainable future.”
For more information about Marathon’s sustainability initiatives, visit their website here. Those interested in reading Marathon’s full Heating with Hashes report can do so below:
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