Bitcoin Miners Harness Heat to Support Greenhouse Ecosystem in Canada

Innovative Initiative in Manitoba

Canaan, a company renowned for its Bitcoin miners, is advancing its energy reuse initiative by supplying the heat generated from its equipment to greenhouses in Canada. In an announcement made this Tuesday, Canaan revealed its participation in a 3 megawatt (MW) pilot program in the province of Manitoba in collaboration with Bitforest Investment. The goal is to "recover heat from an Avalon computing system and use this heat as an additional source for greenhouse operations."

The pilot program, estimated to last initially for 24 months, will utilize Canaan's liquid cooling systems to capture heat and preheat the incoming water for greenhouses, thus reducing the energy required. "Through this [pilot program], we are not just deploying computing equipment for a single project—we hope to build a replicable model based on data," stated Nangeng Zhang, President and CEO of Canaan. "This program will allow us to measure, model, and expand heat recovery for agriculture in colder climates [...] This [pilot program] extends our broader efforts to reassess how computing infrastructure can enhance energy sustainability for households, businesses, and industrial partners."

The initiative will enable Canaan to support Bitforest's greenhouses by "recycling the heat from computing servers that would otherwise be wasted," thereby reducing reliance on fossil fuel boilers. The company announced it will deploy a computing system composed of 360 liquid-cooled server units. According to Bitforest, its operations in Manitoba include tomato production.