Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin rely on millions of computers to crank out the math that process transactions on a public ledger. These “mines“ typically depend on cheap electricity to keep the bitcoin flowing. The demand now is enough electricity to power entire countries. Taken together, miners of bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency, consume enough electricity to rank 73rd in the world for consumption, much of it from dirty coal burned in China.

And it’s only the beginning with the currency seeing exponential growth since 2014.

But artists are raising a symbolic flag to support climate science by minting the currency with clean energy. HARVEST is an art project that is deploying wind turbines that tap into one of the symptoms of climate change–intensifying wind and storms–to mine cryptocurrency (in this case, Zcash) with proceeds funding climate-change research.

The “engineering and computational climate art” employs a 6.6 foot (2 meter) diameter wind turbine that powers a weatherproof computer and cellular uplink. The computer verifies a public transaction ledger known as the blockchain and deposits the earnings in a digital wallet. When the exhibit closes in November, three non-profit climate change research and/or public awareness organizations will receive funding. HARVEST was commissioned by the Swedish museum Konstmuseet i Skövde.

Konstmuseet i Skövde

Konstmuseet i Skövde

Konstmuseet i Skövde

All images courtesy of Konstmuseet i Skövde