Cryptominer loses bid to force BC Hydro to provide it power
A British Columbia court has upheld the provincial government’s decision to pause new electricity connections for large cryptocurrency mining projects, after a forestry firm sought enough cheap hydro power to run operations equivalent to hundreds of thousands of apartments. Commenters weigh the trade-off between attracting energy‑intensive industries that create few local jobs and protecting grid capacity and prices for households and other businesses. The case also prompts broader debates over whether proof‑of‑work mining is an ethically acceptable use of finite, publicly managed power, and where to draw the line on regulating large but lawful consumers of basic utilities.
Scale of the Power Request and Grid Impact
- Miner sought ~2.5M MWh/year, likened to 500k–570k apartments or half the output of a new ~$16B dam.
- Many argue this would materially tighten supply and raise rates or force expensive new capacity or imports.
- BC’s recent drought and neighboring Alberta’s grid stress are cited as context: not a good time to add huge discretionary load.
- Others note this is about “not providing all the power requested,” not cutting off existing service.
Public Utility Role, Pricing, and Regulation
- One side: electricity is a basic utility and refusal to serve should be rare and heavily scrutinized.
- Counterpoint: power and transmission are finite, so big industrial users must be planned and regulated.
- Several suggest using pricing, progressive tariffs, or auctions to ration scarce power instead of categorical bans.
- There’s debate over whether below-cost industrial pricing for “jobs” distorts conservation and fairness.
Perceived Value vs Wastefulness of Crypto Mining
- Many view PoW crypto as a “useless” or “unethical” sink of energy, metals, and infrastructure with few local jobs.
- Others argue voluntary resource use isn’t inherently unethical; comparison made to hobbies like skateboarding.
- Critics reply that crypto’s scale and rivalrous consumption (affecting others’ prices and access) make the analogy weak.
Rights, Discrimination, and Slippery-Slope Concerns
- Some worry about political gatekeeping of utilities and “committee veto” culture.
- Others dismiss slippery-slope arguments, noting court review and the extraordinary scale of this single user.
- Satirical comparisons are made to cutting off inefficient residential uses; rebuttal is that magnitude matters.
Heating, Heat Pumps, and “Mining-as-a-Heater”
- Tangent: if you need heat, mining rigs are 100% efficient resistive heaters, but heat pumps are typically 3–4× more efficient.
- Debate over cold-climate performance: some say heat pumps fail in very low temps; others cite Nordic/Canadian adoption and backup resistive elements.
- Consensus: as primary heating, heat pumps + occasional backup beat mining-as-heater economically and environmentally.
Alternative Consensus and “Useful Work”
- Some ask about proof-of-useful-work (e.g., scientific problems, storage coins); responses say no scalable, truly “useful” PoW has met crypto’s constraints.
- Proof-of-stake is mentioned as a more environmentally friendly alternative; others suggest not using crypto at all.
Comparisons to AI Compute Demand
- One view: AI differs because efficiency benefits everyone and doesn’t require waste by design, unlike PoW’s arms race.
- Another view: AI’s cloud-centric growth will also drive massive power use and could surpass Bitcoin, regardless of optimization.