A Tesla owner claims to have come up with an environmentally friendly solution to mining Bitcoins, something that is becoming increasingly difficult as the popularity of the cryptocurrency soars. This solution could be the perfect answer to all mining problems, as the current mining rigs use so much power – they are accountable for using 0.13% of the world’s total energy consumption. This equates to more than the whole of Ireland!According to a Facebook post on the Tesla Owners Worldwide page, the owner has installed a Bitcoin mining rig in the boot of his Tesla Model S, which supposedly uses the free energy, which has been supplied by Tesla’s Supercharger network, allowing them to mine the Bitcoins completely free of charge.This particular software can be installed on anyone’s computer, with the aim of identifying a sequence of data which is known as a ‘block’, which then generates a pattern when the Bitcoin ‘hash’ algorithm is applied to the data. The first computer that does this will then win the Bitcoins. New Bitcoins are uncovered using the ‘Proof of Work’ algorithm. There are a total of 21 million Bitcoins in the pot, and as we move ever closer to that number, the energy consumption is simply going to keep on rising. Despite claiming that there is in fact a free way to mine Bitcoins, it has sparked a lot of controversy since the post went viral, with many experts questioning its legitimacy. Daniel Oberhaus from Motherboards has branded the solution “stupid”, as he points out that the rig is missing the specialised computer chips needed to perform the repetitive calculations in order to verify the Bitcoins. He delves further into the possible problems, explaining that the number of GPU’s in the boot will make the vehicle “unbearably hot”, and that the solution would simply be costly and unfeasible.