> and store that heat somewhere (like an underground tank of water) until you need to warm your house at night.
Just install a solar water system if you want to heat your house, it'll be more efficient at generating heat than solar panels.
> This technique could pair nicely with another problem we have- storing solar power.
Actually the ability to quickly turn on and off mining operations has other more practical uses for excess energy. Right now there are situations during the day where utilities have to idle base-load plants because renewable energies produce enough to satisfy grid demand, or they even have to pay another utility to take their excess power in case they can't quickly throttle their base load (e.g. with Nuclear).
Having a large crypto currency mining pool the utility could use during these times would enable them to use the excess energy and generate a profit from it, instead of paying another utility to take their excess energy.
Just install a solar water system if you want to heat your house, it'll be more efficient at generating heat than solar panels.
> This technique could pair nicely with another problem we have- storing solar power.
Actually the ability to quickly turn on and off mining operations has other more practical uses for excess energy. Right now there are situations during the day where utilities have to idle base-load plants because renewable energies produce enough to satisfy grid demand, or they even have to pay another utility to take their excess power in case they can't quickly throttle their base load (e.g. with Nuclear).
Having a large crypto currency mining pool the utility could use during these times would enable them to use the excess energy and generate a profit from it, instead of paying another utility to take their excess energy.