The energy situation in the United Kingdom just seems to be lurching from dumb to dumber. From the green energy manipulations of the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero in the UK, Ed Miliband, from pushing heat pumps and solar panels to shutting down much of Britain's North Sea exploration, the whole picture has been one of "green" energy stupidity.
Except, of course, for the development of an enormous new natural gas field in Yorkshire, big enough to be able to provide natural gas for heating and cooking to thousands of British households. But, no — instead, it will be used to power a Bitcoin mining operation.
Reabold Resources has been awarded a licence to carry out “gentle” fracking in the West Newton field near Hull, which is estimated to contain up to eight billion cubic metres of gas.
That would be enough to meet more than a tenth of the UK’s annual needs and makes it one of the largest onshore fields discovered in Britain, with the potential to bolster energy security for years to come.
However, Reabold instead plans to construct a small gas-fired power station on the site and use the energy produced to “mine” Bitcoin.
In what world does this make sense? The British people are already staggering under increasing energy costs, caused not only by Ed Miliband's "Net Zero" stupidity but also by increasing demand and diminishing supply. The British government's solution includes dumb ideas like covering every available surface with solar panels, in notoriously cloudy and dreary Britain.
Read More: Hypocritical UK Energy Guru Ed Miliband Jets to COP30 - Twice
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This field, this big new supply of natural gas, on the British market, could help a lot. But instead:
“A private gas supply means we can run a data centre to mine Bitcoin relatively cheaply,” said Sachin Oza, the co-chief executive of Reabold Resources, which has just been given a drilling licence by the Environment Agency.
“Initially, this would help fund the further development of the gas field and prove the concept – meaning it could become the precursor to a far larger data centre.”
Here's the real kicker:
Reabold’s West Newton gas field is so large that it could theoretically power the creation of 50,000 Bitcoins.
Alternatively, it could help provide gas for the whole of the UK. The drilling site lies within a couple of miles of National Gas’s transmission pipeline and so could easily be connected.
That's what it could do. It won't.
Look, I'm all in favor of private enterprise, which is what this appears to be. But there are a couple of other considerations that should be made here. Primary among these is the simple consideration of corporate responsibility — and the approvals by the British government that would have had to have been made before this gas field could be developed. In a Britain where people are struggling to pay their heating bills, why not make a deal with Reabold to at least move some of this gas production into the British gas distribution pipeline? Our own government makes deals like this all the time.
Instead, Ed Miliband's answers include heat pumps and solar panels.
Granted, the company that is developing the site, Reabold Resources, has claimed that development of the Bitcoin mining operation could pave the way for meeting the energy needs of things like the huge data centers that are becoming increasingly common and necessary, and which will provide skilled, high-paying jobs. But wouldn't it have been a better look for Reabold to have done that first?
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