In just over two weeks, a company called Wisemining plans to launch a new product called Sato, a boiler that can provide heat to a home by leveraging ASIC mining rigs for heat production. It also means that the heater provides revenue in the form of cryptocurrency, which offsets the costs of heating a home a great deal.
Bitcoin Mining and Cogeneration
While bitcoin (BTC) and a slew of crypto assets have seen values increase a great deal, there’s been a lot of criticism aimed at digital currency mining and how it utilizes lots of electricity. Despite the numerous rebuttals written over the years and even books that explain that proof-of-work (PoW) mining’s electrical consumption is way overhyped, people continue to spread the myths.
Another subject that is often missed is the fact that bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining can bolster cogeneration concepts. Essentially, cryptocurrency miners have the ability to provide cogeneration ideas for a myriad of heat-producing mechanisms. This has led people to come up with innovative ideas with bitcoin miners, like growing tomatoes and distilling alcohol products.
Basically, cogeneration is the use of energy and another energy used jointly, like leveraging excess steam from electricity to produce heat. This April, a company called Wisemining plans to release a new product that produces PoW-powered cogeneration. The company is selling a product called Sato, a boiler that allows you to mine bitcoin (BTC) while heating your home at the same time. Essentially, Sato comes with a tank container for ASIC devices, 200-liter water tanks with two heat exchangers, a dielectric coolant, fittings for the tank, and a cartridge for your hashboard.
ASIC miners are not included with the Sato kit, but the website says that the machine supports the Antminer S9 / S17 / S19 / S19 Pro/ S19+ series of BTC mining rigs. The home needs to have a power supply and internet access of course to run the cogeneration mining unit. Wisemining’s website says that customers can integrate the hardware or for an extra cost, the company can install hashboards for clients who are not interested in doing it themselves. The pre-order cost for a Sato bitcoin mining boiler is $8,990 according to the website and the company accepts BTC for payments.
Sato Calculator: Five Hashboards, Four Years, Two Bitcoin
The hashboards are the ASICs housed inside a metal cage the size of a large shoebox and in order to leverage the Sato boiler, the chips are removed and placed in Wisemining’s tank container design for ASICs. The cost of a Sato is definitely more expensive than the average cost of a reliable 200-liter boiler which can run around $2,500 to $5,000 a unit. Wisemining’s website also has an online calculator, which estimates how much money could be made by leveraging a Sato kit. For instance, a home with about 2,000 square meters of space, four residents, and five of the best hashboards in the Eastern part of the United States for four years would earn over 2 BTC.
During the last few years, bitcoin mining and cogeneration concepts have increased a great deal. Just recently Bitcoin.com reported on Genesis Mining’s greenhouse project in Sweden. Containers of Genesis-operated ASIC miners are being used to produce heat in order to fuel greenhouses during the cold winter months. Moreover, last summer, the bitcoin proponent Jesse Peltan tweeted about a cogeneration idea with bitcoin miners that heated a hot tub. The tweet called “SPA256” said “Every citadel needs a Bitcoin Hot Tub. Few understand this.”
Every citadel needs a #BitcoinHotTub.
Few understand this.#Bitcoin#SPA256#BraiinsOS@slush_pool @BITMAINtech @alexa99 pic.twitter.com/KzhbQJoKUT
— Jesse Peltan (@JessePeltan) July 26, 2020
Wisemining’s Sato boilers will begin selling in April according to the website and the company will be taking pre-orders for the first batch of 100. A few days ago, Wisemining’s product was also discussed on the French web portal bitcoin.fr as well. The calculations above are just informative the company says and gives a person a “sense of scale.” People can check out a complete case study by utilizing the company’s forecasting tool which is available via Discord.
What do you think about Wisemining’s Sato boilers? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Wisemining.io, Sato, Twitter,
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.
