内容摘要："Four hours later we're still out, and I come back to a Christmas lunch that's been under the grill for hours," he laughed.

"Four hours later we're still out, and I come back to a Christmas lunch that's been under the grill for hours," he laughed.

The company still faces resistance from some authorities and companies which see bitcoin as an energy-greedy and selfish use of electricity that might otherwise be used by rural people.But the company insists that the incentive is always to sell to the highest buyer and that will always, they say, be the local community.

History tells us that without incentives or rules in place, bitcoin mining at scale can put strain on public energy grids. In Kazakhstan in 2020-2021 a mining boom increased energy usage in the country by 7% before the government clamped down and clipped the wings of the burgeoning industry.In the US - bitcoin mining's new mecca - conflicts between miners, locals and residents have been common when electricity is in high demand.Authorities have created agreements with some mining giants to ensure that they power down their warehouses chock full of computers at times when the grid needs balancing.

For example, Greenidge gas power plant in New York which was renovated to mine bitcoin was mandated to power down mining in January to supply electricity to the grid during a cold snap.Agreements like these will need to be widespread if President Donald Trump's ambition for bitcoin to be "mined, minted and made in the USA" is to be achieved.

The environmental impact of the industry is also a major concern. It's estimated that bitcoin mining uses as much energy as a small country like Poland.

But according to researchers at Cambridge University which does annual estimates on bitcoin's energy usage, there is a shift taking place to a more sustainable energy mix.But beyond this, active cooling will become increasingly critical as temperatures continue to rise due to climate change.

Morgan Stanley is predicting that the annual growth rate of the cooling market, already worth $235bn (£180bn) a year,.

Yet existing cooling devices have serious drawbacks. One issue the refrigerant - the fluid that transitions back and forth from liquid to gas, in a process that transfers heat.It's common for them to leak from standard systems, harming both efficiency and potentially health.