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The real problem is Texas and the federal government allowing flaring in the first place. With better regulations, many better things could be done with that g

by wffurr 5y ago

The real problem is Texas and the federal government allowing flaring in the first place. With better regulations, many better things could be done with that gas rather than mining Bitcoin.

CodeShmode 5y ago
The amount of gas to too small to be economical to transport away from the well.
- nharada 5y ago
  Maybe that's a problem with economic incentives and it shouldn't be free to just burn the gas to get rid of it.
  - CodeShmode 5y ago
    Whether or not they pay a carbon price for burning the gas, it's still better for it to be productive in the process.
chockchocschoir 5y ago
> With better regulations, many better things could be done with that gas rather than mining Bitcoin. With better regulations we could also maybe outlaw desktop gaming computers as there are a lot of powerful (and power hungry) desktop computers just being used to play video games when they could be doing many better things, like contributing to Folding@home or other efforts.
- Ourgon 5y ago
  Regulations, because we know better. More specific, you know better what people should do with both their time as well as their money. They should not play those games nor should they buy those computers for playing games, instead they should buy those computers and the power needed to run them to run $Thing_You_Deem_To_Be_Proper_Today. Since those gamers are just to stupid to realise this they need to be forced to your will because you are right and they are stupid and wrong. It is that attitude which was part of the reason why the USA got its previous president. Assuming that you did not like the previous president of the USA you'd do well to tone it down a bit since people don't like to be patronised.
  - lern_too_spel 5y ago
    GP is being sarcastic. Perhaps people not understanding words written on the Internet is why we got the previous president, but that is very far off topic.
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  - chockchocschoir 5y ago
    "Who's to say what's "better" for anyone?" was my point, but I failed to actually make that point with my thinly veiled sarcasm. > Assuming that you did not like the previous president of the USA Bold assumption I even care about who the president of the USA is. They're all made of the same fabric.
- 127 5y ago
  With that logic we should ban cars and vacation flights, and only use ships, public transport and electric taxi service. Which I'm not entirely opposed to but some other people might be.
lovingCranberry 5y ago
Got any ideas for what you could do with that gas "rather than mining Bitcoin"? Believe me, if there was a way to make "better things" with it instead of flaring, they would do it. (Because doing "better things" usually implies that money can be made!) You will always have to burn waste and unwanted gas at such facilities, because you need to stabilize pressure and flow from the well and you just cannot just capture and process all gas that comes out of it. The majority of the burnt gas is methane anyway, and I prefer this to be burnt rather than released into the atmosphere.
- wffurr 5y ago
  No but with the correct economic incentives I am sure someone will figure it out. After all, Bitcoin incentivized someone to do something with it. If those oil wells are uneconomical to operate in a way that doesn't entail leaking the natural gas, maybe it's best for them not to operate at all.

by wffurr 5y ago

The real problem is Texas and the federal government allowing flaring in the first place. With better regulations, many better things could be done with that gas rather than mining Bitcoin.

CodeShmode 5y ago

The amount of gas to too small to be economical to transport away from the well.

nharada 5y ago
Maybe that's a problem with economic incentives and it shouldn't be free to just burn the gas to get rid of it.
- CodeShmode 5y ago
  Whether or not they pay a carbon price for burning the gas, it's still better for it to be productive in the process.

chockchocschoir 5y ago

> With better regulations, many better things could be done with that gas rather than mining Bitcoin. With better regulations we could also maybe outlaw desktop gaming computers as there are a lot of powerful (and power hungry) desktop computers just being used to play video games when they could be doing many better things, like contributing to Folding@home or other efforts.

Ourgon 5y ago
Regulations, because we know better. More specific, you know better what people should do with both their time as well as their money. They should not play those games nor should they buy those computers for playing games, instead they should buy those computers and the power needed to run them to run $Thing_You_Deem_To_Be_Proper_Today. Since those gamers are just to stupid to realise this they need to be forced to your will because you are right and they are stupid and wrong. It is that attitude which was part of the reason why the USA got its previous president. Assuming that you did not like the previous president of the USA you'd do well to tone it down a bit since people don't like to be patronised.
- lern_too_spel 5y ago
  GP is being sarcastic. Perhaps people not understanding words written on the Internet is why we got the previous president, but that is very far off topic.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- chockchocschoir 5y ago
  "Who's to say what's "better" for anyone?" was my point, but I failed to actually make that point with my thinly veiled sarcasm. > Assuming that you did not like the previous president of the USA Bold assumption I even care about who the president of the USA is. They're all made of the same fabric.
127 5y ago
With that logic we should ban cars and vacation flights, and only use ships, public transport and electric taxi service. Which I'm not entirely opposed to but some other people might be.

lovingCranberry 5y ago

Got any ideas for what you could do with that gas "rather than mining Bitcoin"? Believe me, if there was a way to make "better things" with it instead of flaring, they would do it. (Because doing "better things" usually implies that money can be made!) You will always have to burn waste and unwanted gas at such facilities, because you need to stabilize pressure and flow from the well and you just cannot just capture and process all gas that comes out of it. The majority of the burnt gas is methane anyway, and I prefer this to be burnt rather than released into the atmosphere.

wffurr 5y ago
No but with the correct economic incentives I am sure someone will figure it out. After all, Bitcoin incentivized someone to do something with it. If those oil wells are uneconomical to operate in a way that doesn't entail leaking the natural gas, maybe it's best for them not to operate at all.