Bitcoin (BTC) mining was used in Colorado to heat up a caravan after the breakdown of the propane gas heater.
In 2013, Michael Schmid first became involved with the biggest cryptocurrency, having mined some Bitcoin (BTC), installed Bitcoin (BTC) core, and having acquired Bitcoin (BTC) from MtGox. Speaking for Cointelegraph, Schmid said that after losing his Bitcoin (BTC) to the notorious MtGox incident, he lost confidence in the cryptocurrency soon thereafter.
In the year 2020, Schmid became highly involved once more, as he was apprehensive about the continual production of money. Schmid said that “with that [money printing] I found that I don’t agree at all with Fiat money and believe that Bitcoin should be the global reserve currency and a store of value.”
Fast-forward, Schmid re-entered Bitcoin (BTC) mining, expanding on the knowledge he had unearthed seven years ago when he initially started. In catching up, Schmid familiarized himself with all Bitcoin (BTC) development over the years, including ASICs and Antminers. This led to him coming up with the following epiphany:
“It makes much more sense to replace a resistive heater (like a space heater) with a bitcoin miner, as both of them will turn electricity into heat, while the bitcoin miner also generates Bitcoin.”
In wanting to heat his office, Schmid “bought an S9 from a friend and used the S9 miner instead of the space heater to heat my office which worked perfectly,” which is how he came up with his next idea for the dual-use of Bitcoin (BTC) miners.
Schmid could resolve legitimate Bitcoin (BTC) blocks and profit while maintaining a comfortable working and living environment. When he does not work in the office, Schmid goes on trips around the United States in his Airstream campervan. When problems emerged with the heating unit of the vehicle, Schmid came up with a contingency: to use the S9 heater instead.
Fearing that the S9 could overheat the vehicle, Schmid decided to keep the device in “a box outside and route the warm air into the airstream.”
After a few hurdles along the process of getting the S9 at the right temperature and overcoming overheating and superficial burns, among others, the device did its job by heating up the campervan and mining Bitcoin (BTC) simultaneously due to campground electricity which is free and the solar panels placed on the roof.
The dual-use of the Bitcoin (BTC) miner allows Schmid to mine 0.00006259 Bitcoin (BTC) on the daily while enabling him to save roughly “50% of the propane costs which is around $2.7 per day,” per the present estimations of the daily propane price.
Overall, Schmid and his fiancée are effectively heating the campervan at zero charges while at the same time contributing to the Bitcoin (BTC) network safeguarding.
Schmid also had a message to get through to anyone interested in completing a home mining setup: “I really encourage anybody to play with home mining, I truly believe that one of the most important things of Bitcoin is the decentralization of not only the coins but also the mining infrastructure,” adding that more home mining operations are a positive undertaking.