PEi Connect provides a brief look at what got our attention during the week (3-10 June), and first up we focus on El Salvador’s plan to use volcanic geothermal as a clean energy source to mine Bitcoin.
Crypto mining using volcanic geothermal
El Salvador has become the first country in the world to officially adopt Bitcoin as the legal tender. The country has said that it will mine the cryptocurrency using geothermal energy from its volcanoes. President Nayib Bukele said that the country’s engineers have dug a new well that will provide around 95MW of 100% clean and zero emissions geothermal energy from the volcano. Why is this important? Read this insightful article from IRENA.
UK Government cracks down on emissions
New measures will require businesses to commit to net zero by 2050 and publish clear and credible carbon reduction plans before they can bid for major government contracts. The measures announced on World Environment Day (June 5), make the UK government the first in the world to put this requirement in place. Read more about these new rules.
Molten Salt Reactors for the win
In this interesting interview, Enlit Europes Patrick Bauduin talks to Thomas Jam Pedersen, Founder of Copenhagen Atomics about the concept of molten salt reactors and thorium as a fuel. These reactors, which use molten salt as liquid fuel and coolant, could be a major contributor to the nuclear energy sector with benefits including safety, efficiency, and flexibility in fuels and applications. Watch the video here or read more about molten salt reactors here.
Map the planet
Data is being combined into maps in order to provide easily accessible information on a range of renewable energy-related topics. We present two of the latest maps that got our attention, namely IRENA’s Global Atlas for Renewable Energy (seen below) and Pillsbury’s Hydrogen Map, that provides a list of hydrogen projects around the world together with their project status, start date, location and colour of the hydrogen produced.
Connect with us next week for another selection of interesting sector news. Until then, take care, stay safe and power on.
The PEi Ed team 🙂
