Cryptographic Carbon Markets

Using carbon is key to decarbonizing economy

Aug 2021, phys.org

https://phys.org/news/2021-08-expert-carbon-key-decarbonizing-economy.html

Instead of burning the hydrocarbons for energy, split them into carbon nanotubes for a materials revolution, and hydrogen for a hydrogen power revolution. 

Graphene and Hydrogen factories for mining electronic money, if you don't think it's going to happen you're not trying hard enough.

(Granted, this project, at Rice University, is related to Shell, the oil company, who would really like to see a future where hydrocarbons are still really important. Then again, if carbon-based nanotubes could replace metals, which use a ton of energy to mine and process, that could be a benefit in itself?)

Post Script:

The Bitcoin saga continues to deliver:

Researchers found a seasonal movement of mining between Chinese provinces in response, it was suggested, to the availability of hydro-electric power.

Mining moved from the coal-burning northern province of Xinjiang in the dry season, to the hydro-abundant southern province of Sichuan in the rainy season.

-Cambridge data shows Bitcoin mining on the move. Jul 2021, BBC News. 

China's ban on cryptocurrency mining has forced bitcoin entrepreneurs to flee overseas. Many are heading to Texas, which is quickly becoming the next global cryptocurrency capital.

-Why China's bitcoin miners are moving to Texas. Sep 2021, BBC News.

"Bitcoin refugees" in the "Great Mining Migration" are looking for more relaxed digital currency policy, a stable regulatory environment, diverse sources of capital, and cheap electricity. (How about a reliable power grid though? Seriously?)

I hope people are taking notes, because the crypto saga is a playbook for the way things are going to be. Bitcoin is doing to the future of energy production and computation what the pandemic did to all things "remote" -- the work-from-home revolution would take another 10 years without the pandemic. 

With or without the climate apocalypse to speed things up, not only will renewable energy production decentralize and redistribute into a splintered scattering of nodes, but those nodes move with the weather.