The Canadian city of North Vancouver is considering Bitcoin mining as a way to generate and provide heat to its residents. The city’s energy provider Lonsdale Energy Corporation (LEC) is planning to move away from the use of conventional natural gas and “decarbonise” the production of heat. In 2022, the LEC in collaboration with a Canadian crypto mining firm MintGreen, aims to reduce over 20,000 greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere by generating heat using Bitcoin mining and not natural gas.

“Digital Boilers”, a proprietary of MintGreen, has shown to recover over 96 percent of the electricity used for Bitcoin mining as a heat source that can warm up residential buildings and power industries, according to a press release. The administration of North Vancouver will be using this technology to provide heat to more than hundred buildings and residential complexes in the city.

With cryptocurrency miners operating at full capacity throughout the year, North Vancouver will have a continuous access to a clean heating solution for its population of over 50,000, a press statement issued by the LEC recently said.

“The complex issue of climate change requires innovative solutions, and LEC, with the City of North Vancouver, is showing tremendous leadership in environmental stewardship,” said Karsten Veng, CEO, LEC.

North Vancouver is targeting to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050 and using Bitcoin mining as a heat-generating source is a step towards achieving the goal.

The concerns around climate change have emerged as a major cause of worry for governments and leaders around the world. The recent UN Climate Report released in August has also urged lawmakers to prioritise the production of clean and green energy.

The process of mining Bitcoin – that is done by solving complex math problems on advanced computers — has faced criticism for consuming too much energy and adding to carbon emissions recently. China, for instance, imposed a ban on crypto-activities with high energy consumption being one of the major causes.

Ways to mine Bitcoins using clean energies have begun to emerge in different places around the world already.

The central American country of El Salvador, for example, has begun powering mining with geothermal volcanic energy that does not harm the climate.

Earlier, Anthony Scaramucci, the CEO of investment firm SkyBridge had also said that in the next ten years, Bitcoin mining will transform into a fully renewable activity.

In a 2018, a report by British crypto firm Coinshares had also revealed that majority crypto miners, 78 percent, have already been using renewable energy sources to power their mining operations.