by Glenda Trinidad, Content Marketing Intern

Are we about to destroy the last untouched place on Earth?

Picture this: You’re drifting over the Pacific Ocean in a submersible, two miles beneath the surface. There is no light. No sound. Then, as your eyes adjust, you see it—an alien landscape of ghostly coral, ancient sponges, and slow-moving creatures that have never known a predator.

This hidden world, long shielded by darkness and depth, has now caught the attention of governments and tech giants. Why? Because scattered across its floor lie rocks the size of potatoes, filled with lithium, cobalt, and nickel.

As the race to power the clean energy transition accelerates, governments and corporations are turning to the deep sea in search of rare minerals used in batteries. These metals, like lithium, cobalt, and nickel, are essential for electrification, but the methods used to extract them raise serious environmental and ethical questions.

This moment demands a closer look at how we tackle the climate crisis. 

According to Project Drawdown, one of the most impactful strategies is to reduce carbon emissions by transforming how we generate and use energy. Energy powers everything, from our homes and vehicles to the servers running artificial intelligence. But where that energy comes from, and how we store it, matters more than ever.

What powers these systems today?  In many cases, it’s still our fossil-fueled grid – an outdated system that continues to drive emissions. Electrification is often seen as a key solution, replacing gas-powered machines with electric ones. But this shift frequently depends on batteries, which come with their own environmental and ethical costs.

Needed Resources For Electrification

While initially the idea seems great, there are concerns with this transition. The major being that there will be a higher demand for specific materials to make these batteries. These materials include metals such as Lithium, Nickel, Cobalt, Manganese, Iron, Zinc, and Cadmium. These metals are already hard to find, and what we do have is already being heavily extracted. 

Take lithium, for example. Found mainly in South America and Australia, its extraction has led to widespread environmental degradation. In Chile, lithium mining has turned once-vibrant ecosystems into desert wastelands, displacing Indigenous communities and damaging local water supplies. It is often the surrounding communities, flora, and fauna that are being negatively impacted.  

In a recent discovery, these metals have been found in a new location. 

The Deep Sea

It was discovered that at the bottom of the sea bed, they found polymetallic nodules, small rocks ranging in size between 1-4 inches, that contained these elements after samples were tested.  Many find this exciting news to help further the process of electrification, but others are hesitant, and even more so against the extraction of these nodules. 

Many scientists don’t recommend the extraction of these modules as it could disrupt the environment on the sea bed; there are still species that live on the sea bed that would be affected, such as species of crabs, mussels, sponges, and corals, to name a few. There is now a moratorium against deep-sea mining signed by many scientists and 24 countries. 

Scientists are concerned that deep-sea mining will drastically alter the deep-sea bed ecosystem. If deep-sea mining proceeds, it is unknown whether this could release toxic metals as well as plumes of sediment that obstruct visibility and lower oxygen levels for fish and other species to survive in. 

The unknown costs of deep-sea mining could have a drastic impact on fish populations and potentially wipe out already understudied deep-sea species. Rising sea levels, overfishing, and pollution have already significantly reduced fish stocks. This adds to the strain of finding fish at supermarkets that aren’t overpriced, which also adds to food scarcity in many seaside communities.

It begs the question: 

Is Sustainability Adrift? 

The ocean is essential for life on Earth. 

It supports our atmosphere, generates a significant portion of the oxygen we breathe (between 50-80%), regulates ocean currents, and is crucial to the economy, providing food, entertainment through travel, and creating eco-tourism jobs. 

Additionally, it maintains weather patterns, seasons, and helps preserve the polar ice caps. Protecting the ocean is urgently needed, as its decline is already apparent. Ecosystems and species are disappearing, and increasingly erratic weather patterns are becoming more prevalent. 

We must do everything possible to safeguard this vital resource.

The importance of our Ocean is gaining even more attention as Sir David Attenborough has just released a documentary called  “Ocean with David Attenborough,” now available in the UK and made available in the U.S. on June 7th, a day before World Ocean Day on June 8th. 

In this inspiring and challenging documentary, David Attenborough explores the harsh factors that the ocean is facing. From bottom trawling, warming ocean temperatures, plastic pollution, habitat destruction, and more. 

Attenborough shows that there is still hope; he shows an extraordinary turnaround when the ocean is left untouched after being heavily extracted, also known as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs or no-take zones). 

The results? 

It was beyond what anyone thought possible. 

What was once a graveyard, over time, transformed into a thriving and bustling garden with a diverse species community. Sir David Attenborough leaves the audience with a sense of hope, but also a sense of responsibility. 

These positive changes can only be done if we all contribute. 

A Sea Change in Clean Computing

Is there a better way to power modern technology without compromising the planet?

At Soluna, we believe the answer is yes — and we’re building it.

Soluna develops and operates sustainable data centers designed specifically to absorb wasted renewable energy and turn it into valuable computing. We work at the intersection of energy and technology, partnering with wind and solar developers to transform excess or curtailed power into productive, revenue-generating workloads like AI training and Bitcoin mining.

Instead of relying on fossil fuels or battery storage, both of which carry high environmental costs, we co-locate our facilities directly at renewable energy sites. This means we can harness clean power at the source, eliminating the inefficiencies of long-distance transmission and the need for extractive materials required for battery systems.

Our data centers are modular, flexible, and built to scale with the energy transition. Whether it’s powering intense computing applications or stabilizing the grid, our infrastructure is designed to meet the energy challenges of today, without sacrificing the ecosystems or communities of tomorrow.

As the world becomes increasingly dependent on digital infrastructure, it’s clear that the energy behind our technology matters as much as the innovation itself.

Soluna’s model proves that we don’t have to choose between progress and preservation. 

We can build a future that is both intelligent and sustainable; One where clean energy powers computing, and computing helps scale clean energy.

LEARN more by visiting Soluna’s Resource Center.

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