Why?
I breed Coturnix Quails in New Zealand. Now quail prefer their space to be warm and toasty or they just go on strike and stop laying eggs. New Zealand winters are neither warm nor toasty, so we have an obvious problem.
I've been running a few small crypto mining rigs for months now, and last winter my study was pretty warm through most of the winter, and this got me thinking 'hey I could do this for my quails too'.
Commercial BitCoin mining is all but impossible down here because of our high electricity costs that eat into the profits and leave no dividends after normal administrative costs and salaries etc. This is where this operation differs. It has no rent, no salaries or admin expences, and no electricity costs because the mine will run exclusively on off-grid power.
OK, so here's the deal:
I need to keep my birds warm.
The bird house is very well insulated, and I could just run heaters on a thermostat again (which I will do as a backup any way), but I would prefer to put that power to good use while achieving the same goal, and come one step closer to taking the farm completely off-grid in the process.
The bird house roof has about 70sqm of North facing surface suitable for solar panels.
There are currently 2 400W wind turbines on 6m masts that can relatively easily be upgraded to 3.5KW units.
I don't need the BitCoin mined, so until all the coins ordered here are delivered I won't be keeping one single Satoshi. Each contract will be paid out on a first-come first-served basis, as the coins are mined, until everyone has been paid.
Increases in difficulty will be overcome by retaining 30% of all mined coins for expansion. This will be used exclusively to buy more equipment and increase the rate at which we're able to mine coins. Not a cent will be spent on anything else.
Once the last contract is paid out the panels, turbines and other equipment will remain operational on the farm providing us with free electricity for years, and the mining operation will continue to help fund our operation. All the while the quails will be warm and happy.
We're trying to create an environment that is pure, organic and fully sustainable, and even though electricity is a vital part of modern life it doesn't need to be provided through dirty processes or be traded as a corporate commodity. This farm will become a haven for WOOFers and volunteers to build memories and experiences, and I feel changing our power source will be a massive step in the right direction.
So where's the money going?
I've decided on using Antminer S5 miners. They have a good hash/power rate, are relatively inexpensive per GH mined, produce a good sustained and fanned heat, and are the perfect size to fit in the spaces available. The miners are the least expensive part of this install though.
How many miners I install depends on how much money we raise and how much power is available. Each unit consumes about 590W, so will need at least 1,500W of solar panels, supplemented with wind power, and the controllers and batteries to to manage them. All up each miner with power will cost about $2,000. Obviously unit costs decrease as the project grows.
Each miner is currently able to generate about 0.35 BitCoins per month.
Although we get a lot of wind, solar with batteries is still more efficient. We'll focus mainly on generating and storing solar power, and at first spend all the money raised on purchasing and installing the appropriate amount of panels to power the maximum amount of miners the money can buy.
Once the roof is filled with panels, we'll bring down the existing turbines and upgrade them. Thereafter there is still lots of room for expansion. The main house has over 100sqm of North facing roof, there is space for at least 8 more turbines in moderate to high wind locations, and there are other options available.
Risks & Challenges
This is essentially a futures contract in the highly volatile speculative Bitcoin market. What can go wrong? Well, quite honestly - just about anything.
- The US government could pull the plug on the Internet, effective rendering the BlockChain useless.
- The Bitcoin price could inexplicably tumble and your purchase could be worthless before you even receive it.
- I could desert the farm and disappear without delivering your BitCoins.
- Lightning could strike one of the turbines burning the entire building to the ground and we lose everything.
- One of a multitude of other bad things could happen.
I guess it just comes down to trust, and Indigogo's lawyers, and Paypal's refund policy, and New Zealand having some of the strictest consumer laws in the world.
At the end of the day you just need to assess the risks and decide for yourself.
How you'll get paid
People change things, and our BitCoin wallets are no different. The get lost, stolen, or just change purpose over time. So to make sure we're using the right account, we'll be sending out an email to all contributors after the campaign is over, asking which BitCoin address to use for payment. That way there's less room for error. So don't worry about where to enter your account details - we'll sort that all out later.
Other Ways You Can Help
This is a biggie - you probably won't contribute. That's OK. Most people who read this wont, but that doesn't mean you can't help:
Please help get the word out and make some noise about this campaign.
- Use the Indiegogo share tools!
- Share a link on Facebook
- Email just 2 close friends about this
- Print this page and put it up on a notice board
And that's all there is to it.