When waste heat pays off – heating cost savings versus mining revenue

A miner used as a heater has two sources of income: the mining revenue and the heating costs you no longer pay. Both can be combined in one number.

The net heat price

Net heat price = electricity price − mining revenue per kWh

Every kilowatt hour of electricity the miner draws becomes one kilowatt hour of heat and brings in mining revenue at the same time. What is left after the deduction is the price you actually pay for that kilowatt hour of heat.

You calculate the mining revenue per kWh from the hashprice and the efficiency of the unit:

Mining revenue per kWh = hashprice ÷ (24 × efficiency in J/TH)

A worked example with assumed values: at a hashprice of $50 and 17.5 J/TH, every kilowatt hour brings in $0.119. If your electricity costs $0.15, the net heat price is $0.031 per kWh of heat.

The comparison

Put the net heat price next to what heat costs you today:

• Immersion heater or electric heating: heat price = electricity price. The miner is always cheaper as long as it earns anything at all.
• Gas or oil: heat price = fuel price per kWh ÷ boiler efficiency.
• Heat pump: heat price = electricity price ÷ seasonal performance factor, typically a quarter to a third of the electricity price.

If the miner's net heat price is below that, it saves money. If it is above, the other heat source is cheaper.

Three typical results

Household electricity without your own generation. The heat pump wins in most cases. The mining revenue would have to cover at least two thirds of the electricity price to draw level.

Your own solar power that would otherwise be fed into the grid. The electricity price in the calculation is then the feed-in tariff you forgo. The net heat price often falls below zero: you are paid for heating.

Industrial tariff or direct marketing. At low electricity prices the miner is below gas and close to the heat pump, at much lower acquisition costs per kilowatt of heating capacity.

What else the calculation needs

• Hours of use. The saving only arises in hours in which you really take the heat. The rest of the time the miner is a normal miner and has to pay its way on the electricity price alone.
• Acquisition. Miner, heat exchanger, tank and installation against the cost of the heat source you would otherwise have bought.
• Fluctuating revenue. The hashprice changes daily. Run the calculation again with a much lower value.

The decision

The miner as a heater is worth it when three things come together: cheap electricity, a heat demand over many hours of the year and a net heat price that stays below your alternative even when the hashprice has fallen. If one of them is missing, the heat pump is the better heating system.

Sources

• Fraunhofer ISE: seasonal performance factors of heat pumps in existing buildings, 2025
• Luxor: hashprice, definition and influencing factors

As of October 2026. The worked examples are not a promise of revenue and not investment advice.