Yeah. There is. Heaters don't cost thousands of dollars, maybe more for ASIC.
Also heaters are way better at converting energy to heat, since they don't have to do the whole mining thing. And they can reach higher temperatures without frying themselves. Being a simple resistor rather than complex logical circuit.
If I spend 1kWh to just warm water vs I spend some part of that 1kWh to mine bitcoin and warm water, the former will be more efficient.
Sure but the point is that this will be earned back easily. If it didn't turn a profit then nobody would buy them today, let alone when they have an extra purpose.
> they can reach higher temperatures without frying themselves
Sure, we can't replace industrial processes like forging steel with mining. But residential heating requires no more than, say, 70°C which is easily within reach of any chip today. I was specifically talking about replacing something like a space heater, not a process that needs hundreds of degrees.
> If I spend 1kWh to just warm water vs I spend some part of that 1kWh to mine bitcoin and warm water, the former will be more efficient.
Is that so? How much then? Because I've always heard it's 1:1 for all intents and purposes.
Note I'm not saying this is necessarily a good idea, it seems ripe for abuse (running the miner also when you don't need the heat) and we'd have more chip shortage issues, but I am interested from a technological standpoint. It seemed to me like it would be an improvement if their waste heat was used.
"Most chips go in the trash without ever mining a block" that's your own choice, isn't it? If you don't want to waste the product you bought, don't trash it?
"This is just more [nonsense] crypto theory" I do not invest in cryptocurrency. I bought socks for like 2BTC back in the good old days when it wasn't yet apparent (to me at least) that bitcoin was going to be a major problem; bitcoin was interesting technology for teenage me back in 2012. I'm not some delusional trader that is making profit off the backs of everyone's climate and wants to justify mining. See basically everything else I said above. In particular the part where I said "Note I'm not saying this is necessarily a good idea, it seems ripe for abuse [...] but I am interested from a technological standpoint." The person was making technological arguments, not some nonsense about "crypto theory".
"If you find me a way..." Do you own a computer? There, turn it on during winter, have fun gaming. Now you're generating heat using electricity that you'd consume for gaming regardless.
>that's your own choice, isn't it? If you don't want to waste the product you bought, don't trash it?
I don't think you understand how all of this works. Mining chips have a lifespan, they don't last forever. They stop working, then you can't use them to compute hashes anymore. Most mining chips die--as in stop working--before they ever mine a block.
>turn it on during winter, have fun gaming.
I already do that. Mining Bitcoin to heat my home, on the other hand, will lose me money. I'll just burn through expensive chips without ever getting a reward, because a home mining rig can't compete with the industrial operations. The idea doesn't work.
Also heaters are way better at converting energy to heat, since they don't have to do the whole mining thing. And they can reach higher temperatures without frying themselves. Being a simple resistor rather than complex logical circuit.
If I spend 1kWh to just warm water vs I spend some part of that 1kWh to mine bitcoin and warm water, the former will be more efficient.