Clean Integration

We’re excited to explore a new topic on Clean Integration: sustainable IT.  Capgemini is an international IT solutions provider with a focus on sustainable, “future-shaping projects.” Capgemini has used AI to protect national parks and oceans and has a deep knowledge of sustainable IT and insurance.  At Soluna, we are just as interested in the human and environmental impact of technology as we are...

The US passed the largest climate bill in American history this summer: The Inflation Reduction Act. With new energy sources, will come new challenges for our already-struggling grid. Now more than ever, innovations in AI and machine learning are so important for stabilizing the grid. Today I’m talking to Sean Murphy , the CEO and Co-Founder of PingThings, Inc. , a software platform for high-frequ...

Soluna CEO John Belizaire meets with Catherine McLean , who has spent the past decade plus working in clean energy recruitment.  Catherine is the founder and CEO of Dylan Green , a strategic talent acquisition consultancy that specializes in placing top-tier talent and top-tier individuals within leading clean energy and tech companies. Prior to founding Dylan Green, Catherine founded and led McLe...

Can Bitcoin catalyze the transition to renewable energy?  Troy Cross joins us in this episode to discuss. Troy is a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute. He holds a PhD in Philosophy, and is a professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College. He has been involved in Bitcoin for over a decade, most prominently working around the question of Bitcoin mining’s present and future environmental...

 Soluna Computing CEO John Belizaire is joined by Eliza Gkritsi and Aoyon  Ashraf, journalists at CoinDesk. Eliza and Aoyon both cover crypto mining for the digital-currency-focused new site, CoinDesk.  Before joining CoinDesk, Eliza worked as a reporter at TechNode, a leading media source on tech and startups in China. She holds an MSc in Journalism and in Communication and Media Studies.  Before...

John Belizaire , CEO at Soluna Computing , sits down with Ali Chehrehsaz , the Co-founder and CEO of TerraVerde Energy, an independent energy advisor representing school districts, public agencies, and commercial enterprises.  TerraVerde helps clients reduce energy use and costs by planning, designing, and implementing energy conservation measures, solar energy systems, and energy storage solution...

John Belizaire , CEO at Soluna Computing , sits down with Margot Paez , a fellow at the Bitcoin Policy Institute specializing in renewable energy and environmental studies, to discuss the need for education in both the policy and energy sectors around the potential for Bitcoin mining to catalyze clean energy development.  Margot is also currently a Ph. D. candidate in civil engineering at Georgia...

At Soluna, we’ve always been interested in innovative solutions to some of renewable energy’s toughest problems.  Last year, we wrote a series on our blog covering a few environmentally-sound companies that we find truly inspiring .  We found that companies that are genuinely environmentally forward-thinking care a lot.  They’re thinking hard about sustainability, reducing their carbon footprint,...

Intermittency.  It’s a fancy word for describing this unique circumstance in renewable energy where the wind does not always blow and the sun does not always shine.  It’s a major problem in the economics of clean energy, spurring a host of competitive, innovative solutions each year.  How could power companies hedge the uncertainty of weather against a backdrop of shifting price and demand? Today,...

Bitcoin’s energy consumption is a feature, not a bug.  (This is what I testified before Congress in January 2022 when I had the opportunity to make the case for crypto mining as a catalyst for renewable energy development)  There’s an existing view that Bitcoin is a dirty coin and it’s not sustainable.  Recently, in the early spring of 2022, there has been even more traction to ban the Bitcoin pro...

Recently, I talked about How Clean Energy Can Further the Mass Adoption of Crypto with Blockworks.  I explained that Bitcoin is not just a store of value, but a catalyst for renewable energy development and an immediate solution to some of the toughest problems facing the economics of clean energy.  By using the momentum of renewable energy development and attaching mining technology to clean infr...

Soluna has recently secured $35 million in project financing to continue our mission of developing green data centers co-located with renewable energy assets. We’re honored to have a pioneering sustainability project finance firm–Spring Lane Capital–back our model of leveraging excess clean energy to generate low-cost computing.  We share a conviction that this is the future of green bitcoin minin...

In this episode, we’re talking about digitalization and energy. Peter Kelly-Detwiler, author and energy expert, joins Soluna CEO John Belizaire to discuss the digitization of the energy grid over the last decade, what problems it solves today, and how a decentralized grid may increase energy efficiency in years to come.   With a 30-year career in energy, Peter has developed a background in both el...

Bill Nussey and John Belizaire both share a passion for solving the climate crisis and driving the clean energy revolution.  Their approaches differ–Bill has been dedicated to ramping up local-scale solutions like rooftop or community solar and microgrids, and John has been working with large utility-scale solar and wind projects. While they are working at different scales, the concepts they talk...

In February 2021, an extreme winter storm, the coldest in the last 50 years, caused a massive electricity generation failure in the state of Texas.  It’s been referred to as The Great Texas Freeze .  The grid failure lasted over two weeks in some parts of Texas and resulted in  a loss of power for more than 4.5 million homes, an estimated death toll of over 700 people and nearly 200 billion dollar...

In our last episode, we dove into the ongoing debate over crypto mining regulation and the types of incentives that could stabilize the grid and catalyze clean power growth.  In this episode, we examine a case study from 2014, when new Bitcoin miners quickly set up shop in Chelan County, Washington. Here to talk with us about the good, bad, and learning potential of this experience is Steve Wright...

Lawmakers are ramping up pressure on Bitcoin miners who use fossil fuels to operate.  On January 20, 2022, CEO John Belizaire was invited to testify at the House Oversight Subcommittee hearing called, “ Cleaning up Crypto, the Energy Impacts of Blockchains ”   During that hearing our Members of Congress were seeking information about the sector’s energy use.  On January 27, 2022, Senator Elizabeth...

We’ll be launching a new season of our podcast this month.  (You might be familiar with previous Soluna podcast seasons, known as The Kingdom. ) This season, we’re focused on exploring the nexus of computing and clean energy.  John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna Computing, had some great conversations with top experts about the grid transition, policy implications, new computing technologies, the utilit...

In this episode, we are talking to Andy Edstrom , CFA, CFP is a financial advisor and also Head of Institutional at Swan Bitcoin . He may be best known in Bitcoin for authoring the book Why Buy Bitcoin , opining that MicroStrategy might borrow in order to buy Bitcoin , and for shaming wealth managers for not owning Bitcoin for their clients.   We talk about the rising interest in Bitcoin from well...

In this episode, we’re looking ahead at the role of government and technological innovation in the future of renewable energy. John, CEO of Soluna talks to Jonathan (Jonny) Sultoon, the Head of Markets & Transitions, Energy Transition Practice at Wood Mackenzie.  Jonathan has over 18 years of experience leading analysis for global energy markets, including power, coal, gas, LNG, and renewables. He...

What solutions do batteries offer to renewable energy’s biggest problem? In this episode, Jeff Bishop , CEO, and co-founder of KeyCapture Energy , a utility-scale battery provider, talked to John Belizaire , CEO, and Suzy Peng , Summer Associate at Soluna. Together, they took a deep dive into the world of batteries. Jeff’s extensive experience in the battery and energy industries guide our convers...

What will the future of crypto mining look like? In this episode, we’re thinking ahead about the relationship between mining and energy, and where renewables will play a role. John , CEO of Soluna, and Phillip , VP of Corporate Development, talk to Jesse Peltan , co-founder and CTO of HODL Ranch –  a developer of large-scale Bitcoin mining projects in Texas. Jesse dropped out of college to become...

In this episode, the team at Soluna is hosting William Eckhardt Professor of Computer Science at the University of Chicago, and Senior Computer Scientist at Argonne National Labs, Andrew Chien. Our work at Soluna builds upon his research that shows adding dispatchable load not only reduces stranded power, but it also improves both grid cost and stability. Ultimately, this allows for higher penetra...

What will it take to reach 100% renewable energy?  John , CEO of Soluna, and Phillip , head of Corporate Development, talk to Rob Gramlich , CEO of Grid Strategies – a company with a mission to heighten the efficiency of the development and operation of energy grids. This chat is rich with information thanks to Rob’s extensive experience in the energy sector.  You can expect to learn more about th...

We talk to Sanjeev Kumar , a strategic advisor to Soluna, and Bill Hayes , former Head of Legal and External Affairs at Kosmos Energy to learn more about the oil, especially as the industry faces disruption during the Coronavirus pandemic.  Tune in for an interesting educational lesson on the history of oil, its rise as an energy source, and its influence on the global economy. Then, we unpack the...