At Mining Disrupt Miami 2022, held July 26–28, 2022, Edward Lu of Canaan, the maker of Avalon miners, made the case that Bitcoin mining's future depends on its relationship with the grid. Lu had arrived in the United States that April and spent three months traveling the country, meeting miners and partners. What he saw, he said, was growing adoption of clean energy, and an industry that could only enter the mainstream if it was sustainable.
Lu presented the session as a keynote. When it was recorded, Bitcoin traded at $21,268; on October 11, 2026 it was $82,940.
The Case for Green Legitimacy
Lu opened his argument by connecting the technical mechanics of mining to broader humanistic goals. He did not frame sustainability as a mere marketing strategy, but as an existential requirement for the industry's acceptance into the mainstream. He argued that the decentralization of Bitcoin is, in essence, a form of globalization, and for that global network to endure, it must reduce its reliance on traditional, volatile energy sources. The transition he described was not just about swapping out fuel sources, but about changing the fundamental role of the miner in the energy ecosystem.
sustainability of bitcoin mine industry is closely related to our future humanity
Edward Lu · 2:06
This perspective marked a shift from the early days of Bitcoin mining, when the focus was almost exclusively on hash rate and price. By 2022, the conversation had matured. Lu tied the industry's future growth to its ability to show benefits to society. He suggested that sustainable mining was the primary vehicle for gaining the wide recognition necessary to operate without the constant threat of regulatory bans. The argument was clear: if miners could prove they were useful to the grid, they could no longer be easily dismissed as wasteful.
Turning Excess Power into Value
The core of Lu's technical argument rested on the concept of the flexible load. He explained that as renewable energy sources like wind and solar became more prevalent, they created periods of excess capacity that the traditional grid struggled to manage. Wind and solar often produce more power than the grid can use at that moment. In this context, Bitcoin mining offers a unique solution: it can be turned down or off almost instantly, allowing miners to absorb this excess energy and convert it into a storable digital asset.
bitcoin mining has also become a flexible load which encourages and promotes the use of sustainable energy
Edward Lu · 5:06
Lu cited a report from the Bitcoin Mining Council, released just days before the conference, which indicated that the sustainable electricity mix for global Bitcoin mining stood at 60 percent. While this figure helped address misconceptions about the industry's high energy consumption, Lu acknowledged that there was still significant work to be done. He emphasized that the goal was not just to use green energy, but to increase the utilization of renewable sources through greater computing power and improved infrastructure. The flexible load model, he argued, created a symbiotic relationship where miners were compensated for their flexibility, often through discounts on electricity rates when they disconnected from the grid during peak demand.
Hardware That Fits the Grid
Strategy alone is insufficient without the hardware to execute it. Lu spent a significant portion of the keynote detailing the advancements in mining chip technology and energy efficiency. He highlighted the work of his engineering team, who had spent thousands of hours optimizing the balance between high performance and low power consumption. This optimization involved not just the design of the computing chips themselves, but also new packaging structures and heat dispersion methods. The result was a new generation of miners that could operate efficiently even in less-than-ideal conditions.
achieved a hashrate over 100 terahash per second and has energy efficiency ratio below 35 gel
Edward Lu · 8:22
Canaan launched the AvalonMiner 1266 at the show. By achieving a hashrate exceeding 100 terahashes per second with a joule-per-terahash ratio below 35, the machine represented a significant leap in efficiency. This was crucial for the green mining narrative, as lower energy consumption per unit of hash rate directly reduces the environmental footprint of the network. Lu also mentioned the establishment of service centers worldwide, including in North America, to provide localized support for partners deploying these machines and to seek partners whose mines run at least partly on green energy.
The Texas Problem: Why Cooling Matters
Lu turned his attention to the practical challenges of deploying mining hardware in extreme environments, using Texas as a primary example. He recounted conversations with engineers who had struggled with the state's frequent sandstorms and extreme temperature fluctuations between night and day. These conditions posed significant risks to traditional water-cooling systems, particularly given the high salt content in the local water supply, which could lead to the erosion of equipment components. In such environments, reliability is paramount, and a failure in the cooling system can halt operations entirely.
immersion oil cooling bitcoin mining can break free of environment limitations
Edward Lu · 9:51
This led Lu to champion immersion oil cooling as a key technology for the future. Unlike air or water cooling, immersion cooling submerges the hardware in a non-conductive liquid, which is more effective at dissipating heat and less susceptible to environmental contaminants. He argued that this technology allowed mining operations to break free from the limitations imposed by local weather and climate conditions. By removing the dependency on specific environmental factors, immersion cooling made it possible to deploy high-density mining facilities in a wider range of locations, including those with abundant renewable energy but harsh climates.
The Post-China Energy Mix
The conclusion of Lu's keynote addressed the geopolitical shift in mining operations following the ban in China. He noted that the share of the network using green energy had dropped rapidly, from 42 percent to 25 percent, after mining moved away from the hydro-powered mines of Sichuan province.
moving forward the wind and solar energy will make will mark up a large proportion of green energy
Edward Lu · 12:50
However, Lu remained optimistic about the long-term trajectory. He cited an International Energy Agency forecast that renewable generating capacity would grow by more than eight percent in 2021, with two-thirds of that growth from solar and wind, and said solar's growth would drive sustainable mining. Lu concluded by inviting continued collaboration with mining companies that prioritized green energy, promising that Canaan would remain a trustworthy partner in this transition.
Looking back at this argument from a vantage point four years later, the core thesis holds up, though the context has evolved. The industry has indeed continued to diversify its energy mix, with a growing number of miners integrating directly with solar and wind farms. The concept of the flexible load has become a standard part of grid discussions, with miners increasingly seen as valuable assets for grid stability. The hardware efficiencies Lu described in 2022 have been further improved by subsequent generations of mining chips, making the environmental footprint per terahash even lower. The conversation about Bitcoin's role in the global energy transition continues to evolve, with the next major gathering of this community scheduled for Mining Disrupt 2027, March 22 to 24 in Irving, Texas, where these ideas will be tested against the realities of a maturing market.