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I didn't realize you were so specifically referring to obsolete Bitcoin mining equipment. Regardless, I still contend that electricity, if it is to be utilized in heating, is more efficiently made to produce heat with equipment designed specifically for the task.
Not true. Electric heating basically dissipates heat in a resistor and then in many cases has fans to distribute the heat. This is no different from electronic equipment, only that the resistor is replaced by the various integrated circuits. In both cases if one puts in
500 watts of electricity in one gets 500 watts of heat out. This is just the first law of thermodynamics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_law_of_thermodynamics.
(Red colorization mine.)
Your statement does not account for electricity lost to other forms of energy.
What other forms of energy? Please specify.
Edit: Those who wish to bet against the laws of Physics or the laws of Mathematics with their money are of course free to do so. I will pass and stick to POW coins.
For one, the kinetic energy of the cooling fans. For another, the radiant energy of the LEDs of the circuit boards.
Nope. The kinetic energy of the cooling fans becomes heat through friction. What happens to a cooling fan when you turn of the power it slows down and stops because of friction. As for the light emitted by LED on a circuit board it gets absorbed by the case and turned into heat.
Edit: This is starting to remind me of debates over Angle Trisection using a strait edge and a compass.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angle_trisectionThat assumes the devices are enclosed. If the devices are open and light can escape the space, then its energy will be lost. As well, the space being an thermodynamically open system, if the heating elements should be spread about, the diffusion of their heat into the environment beyond the space is, effectively, assisted. Were one to move them closer together, they would, at certain proximities, cease to function.