---
title: "A Farmer Is Using Cow Turds to a Power Bitcoin Mining Operation"
description: "A farmer in Wales built his own Bitcoin mine, which he powers by burning the methane emitted from his cows' decomposing turds."
date: "2021-06-11"
modified: "2021-06-11"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cow-turds-power-bitcoin-mining-farms"
categories:
  - "Bitcoin"
  - "Blockchain"
  - "Cryptocurrency"
  - "Energy"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "bitcoin"
  - "crypto"
  - "energy"
  - "the digest"
---

# A Farmer Is Using Cow Turds to a Power Bitcoin Mining Operation

![A farmer in Wales built his own Bitcoin mine, which he powers by burning the methane emitted from his cows' decomposing turds.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Cowpoop.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Futurism\</em\>*

## Brown Energy

Bitcoin mining operations are [shockingly energy-intensive](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-raid-weed-bitcoin-mine-instead>) due to stacks of processors working away in an attempt to extract some crypto.

That's led to growing concerns about cryptocurrencies being bad for a planet already being hit by the impacts of climate change — Bitcoin alone already consumes more energy [than several countries](<https://futurism.com/bitcoin-electricity-austria>) — so one farmer is taking an unusual approach to cleaning up the industry. Philip Hughes farm in Wales, operated by a farmer of the same name, recently got into the crypto mining game, [the *BBC* reports](<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57199405>). Except instead of fossil fuels, they're powering their operation with the methane emitted from their own cows' decomposing turds.

## Craptocurrencies

Look, we're only going to say once that this is one of those "do not try at home" things. But in Hughes' defense, burning the methane-emitting dung is actually better for the planet than simply releasing it into the air au naturel.

Burning methane, as Hughes does to power the six-cylinder engine electrifying his crypto mine, converts it into carbon dioxide. Releasing large amounts of either gas into the atmosphere is bad news, but one molecule of methane will have [25 times the impact](<https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases>) on the environment of CO2 over the course of a century. Clean energy would be better, but at least that makes the manure approach better for the planet than, say, those Siberian oil rigs that now [double as Bitcoin farms](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/russian-oil-builds-bitcoin-farm-siberia>).

**READ MORE:** [How cow poo is powering crypto mining](<https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57199405>) \[*The BBC*\]

**More on Bitcoin mining:** *[Police Raid Suspected Weed Growery, Find Bitcoin Mine Instead](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-raid-weed-bitcoin-mine-instead>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)