Abu Dhabi agricultural regulator bans use of farmland for crypto mining

The Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA), the cultivation regulator for the emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), announced a prohibition connected utilizing cultivation onshore for crypto mining.

Violators volition look a 100,000 AED good ($27,229), and the ADAFSA volition suspend municipal services, confiscate mining hardware, and disconnect the farmland from the electrical grid, according to Tuesday’s announcement.

ADAFSA said that utilizing farmland for crypto mining conflicts with “sustainability” policies successful the portion and undermines existing onshore usage provisions.

“Such activities autumn extracurricular the scope of permitted economical uses defined by the authorization and are not allowed connected farmlands,” it said.

Crypto mining requires important vigor input, contributing to a spike successful vigor procreation successful the US and inviting scrutiny from regulators worldwide. Source: US Energy Information Administration

Crypto mining and its biology interaction proceed to beryllium debated, with critics arguing that mining has antagonistic effects connected ecology, portion advocates constituent to vertically integrated mining operations arsenic a mode to recycle runoff energy and siphon discarded into utilities.

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Some probe suggests crypto mining tin assistance biology efforts

Crypto mining is simply a highly competitory concern with constrictive nett margins, which encourages miners to seek retired the cheapest vigor sources to trim adaptable expenses.

Renewable forms of vigor similar hydroelectric power, geothermal power, oregon runoff vigor from concern processes specified arsenic flaring excess vigor from state fields oregon siphoning methane vigor from discarded contribute implicit 50% of the energy utilized to excavation Bitcoin (BTC) successful 2023.

In August 2024, researchers published a paper titled “An integrated landfill gas-to-energy and Bitcoin mining framework,” outlining however proof-of-work (PoW) mining tin convert methane vigor to usable energy.

The researchers examined landfill-gas-to-energy (LFGTE) systems, which siphon methane gases from garbage successful landfills to electricity, thereby sequestering the harmful greenhouse state and keeping it retired of the atmosphere.

An illustration showing the travel of runoff methane state to usable energy. Source: ScienceDirect

These findings echo earlier probe papers, including “Bitcoin and the Energy Transition: From Risk to Opportunity,” published successful 2023, which argued that mining could reduce up to 8% of planetary emissions by 2030.

Despite this, critics proceed to reason that mining poses risks to ecology. US lawmakers person made respective attempts to get the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to walk regulations to restrict mining activity.

Such regulations see provisions to trim contamination to the air, water, and greenhouse state emissions nether existing US regulations, alongside newer regulations targeting sound contamination from mining facilities. 

Magazine: Bitcoin mining manufacture ‘going to beryllium dormant successful 2 years’: Bit Digital CEO