El Salvador’s leading ecologist Ricardo Navarro believes that mining bitcoin with a volcano, or geothermal energy, will “end in environmental disaster.” Navarro believes geothermal energy costs more than oil, and thinks El Salvador’s millennial president Nayib Bukele’s decision is questionable.
Salvadoran ecologist Ricardo Navarro Questions His Country’s Volcano-Powered Bitcoin City Venture
During the second week of June, El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele told the public that the Latin American country planned to mine bitcoin (BTC) with energy stemming from volcanoes located in the country. Bukele uploaded a video at the beginning of September showing how the Salvadoran volcano-powered mining facility was constructed. Now the president and his government have been criticized by El Salvador’s leading ecologist Ricardo Navarro.
The Salvadoran ecologist explained to Telegraph contributor Simeon Tegel that developing a ‘Bitcoin City’ next to a volcano doesn’t make sense. “Talking about building this city beside a volcano is like thinking you are rich because you live next to a bank,” Navarro said. Navarro also detailed that geothermal energy is still a costly endeavor and won’t be much better than using petroleum sources. Navarro insists:
Geothermal still costs more than oil, otherwise we would already be using more of it. We will simply continue to buy more oil.
Navarro Insists ‘Bukele Doesn’t Really Understand What Is Going on With the Energy Situation’
Navarro is concerned about the consequences of the world’s so-called climate crisis. The ecologist runs a non-governmental organization CESTA (Salvadoran Center for Appropriate Technology) and he recently discussed the subject with Politico’s contributing author, Bjarke Smith-Meyer, on November 10.
Navarro had dismissed the concept of a bitcoin-mining facility powered by a volcano at that point, as he believed the facility would require more than mere geothermal energy. “I am under the impression that Bukele doesn’t really understand what is going on [with] the energy situation,” Navarro told the reporter. “That is certainly going to complicate… demand.”
Navarro says that El Salvador’s digital currency ecosystem could be attractive to drug lords. According to the Salvadoran ecologist, bitcoin tender legislation was implemented quickly and without any debate. “If you have something good to promote, you propose it, you discuss it, and then you put your arguments. But that was not the case with bitcoin,” Navarro stressed to Smith-Meyer.
What do you think about the Salvadoran ecologist’s opinion concerning the volcano-powered bitcoin mining facility in El Salvador? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic in the comment section.
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