Tara Foundation Introduces the Ocean Miner to Support Ocean Research
Ocean News
The Tara Expeditions Foundation, with the schooner Tara, travels the seas of the globe with scientists on board. For 15 years, Tara has been studying and understanding the ocean in front of climate change to better preserve it. Its mission is essential but is often confronted with the difficulty of engaging the general public, the politicians or the investors to finance marine research. The environment represents less than 3% of donations to charities.
The Tara Foundation team has therefore developed - with FF Los Angeles, a creative agency founded by Fred & Farid - a system called "Ocean Miner": a new hydraulic turbine system, installed in Brittany, in the Morbihan France, where marine streams and the tides are the strongest.
How it works:
This turbine was naturally driven by stream action, converting the energy from the ocean into an electrical energy. A computer operating in Mining, i.e. the generation of Bitcoins, has been wired to this unit. The generation of this crypto-money via mining is a computerized process for accounting trades in the public register of transactions (carried out with what is referred to as the Blockchain). Each registered operation generates in return a margin of Bitcoin in benefit of the owner of the computer. This digital currency is then convertible into Euros and can, therefore, immediately be re-invested in ocean research.
The computer and its components were set up in a small house equipped with mirrors, thus downplaying the visual impact of its implementation on the Brittany coast and also protecting them from the weather. After the house was locked and connected to the turbine, the system was autonomous and auto-sufficient, using the power of the ocean to create its own energy.
An equipment able to produce crypto-money
After a month of running the turbine and of Bitcoin generation, the "Ocean Miner" system made it possible for the Tara Foundation to collect nearly 0.0015414 BTC / day, or 200 € / month over the whole implementation phase.
"This system certainly won't cover the needs of the scientific research, it is only a drop in the ocean: a minimal symbolic contribution made to the expeditions led by Tara. It is, however, a powerful way of recalling that only the mobilization of everyone together will make it possible to fund the research to study, understand and to better protect the Ocean in the future", explained Romain Troublé, Managing Director of the Tara Expeditions Foundation.
“Over the years, FF has been actively involved with a series of creative social responsibility projects ranging from refugees, to social advocacy, the environment, and beyond. Today, we’ve decided to focus our creativity on a place of huge importance that doesn’t get the attention it needs: our oceans. We’re partnering with a selection of brands and charities to find creative ways to protect the ocean and clearly communicate its vital importance to our lives. It is the place where we feel we can make the largest impact for the world.” declare Fred & Farid, Founders FF Creative Community (Los Angeles, New York, Shanghai et Paris).
The Tara Expeditions Foundation has been active since 2003 in favor of the environment and research, thanks to the legendary schooner Tara, built for extreme conditions. Expeditions are organized to study the impacts of climate change and the ecological crisis on the oceans. Our work involves raising environmental awareness of the general public and especially young people. The Tara Expeditions Foundation has also developed an advocacy campaign to mobilize people and encourage decision makers to take concrete steps towards finding the solutions we need for the planet.
