It's beautiful weather in Amsterdam at the moment, but cold. The canals are largely iced-over. Luckily, my apartment has gas-fired central heating. Electric heating would be better for the environment, I suppose, but I can't change that for the while.

I was listening to the wireless [remember those?] this morning and there was something on about how much electricity gets wasted on Bitcoin mining. I've seen a small Bitcoin mining rig: it has lots of finned cooling blocks and a big fan. Still, energy is conserved so it has to go somewhere.

This set me thinking: why can't there be a central heating boiler with a built-in Bitcoin miner? It would need good insulation, of course, and a feedback mechanism to throttle the kit down when the water is hot enough. Sooner or later the radiators will be rattling with Bitcoins. Particularly when it's cold outside. And if you want to get rich quicker just shower more often. Or even better, combine your heater with a small cloud farm.

If you want to get rich real quick, however, you should make and sell Bitcoin Boilers. I only ask for 10 percent of the proceeds (oops, where's my block of patent forms...?) And how about this for an advertising slogan: "Greenest invention since the perpetuum mobile".

BB