How to use the calculators

MCF.DIGITAL is a set of feasibility calculators that turn a stranded methane source — landfill gas, oilfield flare gas, anaerobic biogas, or coal-mine ventilation methane — into a sized Bitcoin mining project with a full carbon-credit and deal-economics layer on top.

Each calculator follows the same five-tab structure: Site (the gas), Derates (what the engine actually delivers), Carbon (credits and counterfactual), Deal (how the cashflow splits), and Outputs (the numbers you take to the host or investor). This guide walks each tab in order.

Every input has a hover tooltip; every output tile has one too. Tooltips with a Deep dive → link jump to the matching glossary entry. For the underlying math (LandGEM, Arps decline, derate stack, capex breakdown), see Methodology.

Pick the calculator that matches the dominant feedstock at the site:

• Landfill Gas — LFG → Hash.
• Flare Gas (APG) — Flare → Hash.
• Biogas (Dairy / WWTP) — Biogas → Hash.
• Coal Mine Methane — CMM → Hash.

Not sure which fits? Run two side-by-side on the Compare page. The math is identical underneath; only the defaults, decline curve, and carbon counterfactual change.

This is the only tab where you must bring real data. Get it from the host’s gas survey, a flare-meter pull, or the landfill’s annual GHG report. Defaults are reasonable middles — do not ship a deal off them.

• scfm — standard cubic feet per minute of total gas flow. This is the master volume number; every kW, miner count, and tCO₂e cascades from it.
• CH₄ % — methane fraction of the raw gas. Landfill typically 45–55%, oilfield associated gas 60–90%, dairy digester 55–65%, coal-mine ventilation air 0.1–1%.
• BTU/scf — heating value. Auto-derived from CH₄ % unless you override. Affects engine sizing directly.
• Decline / LandGEM horizon — how the resource depletes over the project life. Landfill uses LandGEM; flare/biogas use Arps decline; CMM is treated as flat for the mining horizon.

If you only have a single flow number, leave everything else default and treat the result as ±30%. Tighten before any commercial conversation.

A 1 MW gen-set nameplate is a lie at most real sites. The Derates panel multiplies the gross kW by four independent losses, then subtracts parasitic loads. Net kW is what the miners get.

• Altitude ~3% per 1,000 ft above 500 ft. Set this from the site elevation, not guesswork.
• Ambient temperature ~1% per 10 °F above 77 °F intake. Use the worst-month average, not annual.
• H₂S / siloxane — step penalties above OEM limits. Treatment can buy them back but adds capex; the calculator does not yet trade those off automatically.
• Parasitic load — compressors, chillers, miner-room HVAC. Default 8% of gross; raise for cold-climate immersion cooling.
• Uptime — start at 95% mechanical, subtract planned downtime days, then half-credit derate days. Real delivered uptime usually lands 88–92%.

Open the Net kW and Effective Uptime glossary entries for the formula and worked example.

The carbon layer is where most users either over-sell the project (by claiming against a vent counterfactual when a flare is in place) or under-sell it (by leaving the buffer pool too aggressive). Three knobs to be honest about:

• Counterfactual — vs Vent assumes 100% of CH₄ would escape raw; only valid where venting is legally permitted and no flare exists today. vs Flare assumes a 98%-efficient flare is the baseline; this is the registry default for any controlled site.
• GWP horizon — 28 (GWP-100) is the issuance default for VCS, ACR, CAR, Gold Standard. 84 (GWP-20) is used for methane-policy framing; do not use it for sellable tCO₂e.
• Buffer pool + verification haircut — typically 10–20% combined. Default 15% blends both; raise for older equipment or jurisdictional risk.

See Additionality, Buffer pool, and CO₂e Avoided before claiming credits on a real project.

Three deal structures, picked by who carries the capex and risk:

• Revenue share — investor funds capex, host contributes the gas. Split the gross monthly revenue (mining + carbon) by a negotiated percentage. Best for hosts who want upside and have no capex appetite.
• Fixed tolling — host or third-party owns the mining stack; the operator is paid a flat $/MWh or $/month. Lowest risk to the operator, lowest upside.
• Hybrid / floor + share — a fixed minimum plus a percentage of upside above a hashprice threshold. Most common in real 2024–2025 deals.

The Investor Payback shown here is a quick undiscounted months figure (capex ÷ year-1 monthly investor share). Use the discounted payback on the Outputs/Decline tab for any underwriting decision — see Payback.

The output tiles cluster into four groups. Read them in this order:

1. Power & fleet — Net kW, Miners Supported, Gross Hashrate, Effective Uptime. Sanity-check these first. If Net kW looks wrong, every downstream number is wrong.
2. Capex — Total Capex Est. and Cost/kWh Equiv. The cost/kWh number is the cleanest cross-site comparison metric.
3. Revenue & carbon — P10 / P50 / P90 monthly revenue, lifetime tCO₂e avoided, issuable credits net of buffer. The P-band is hashprice volatility; widen the BTC scenario in the Deal tab to stress it.
4. Returns — Project IRR, NPV, Discounted Payback, and the deal-specific Investor IRR/Payback. Compare IRR against your hurdle (default 20%). Green clears it; red doesn’t.

Every tile’s ⓘ icon explains its formula. Tiles with a Deep dive → link jump to the full glossary entry with the underlying equation.

1. Pick the calculator that matches the feedstock.
2. Enter the real scfm and CH₄ %. Leave everything else default.
3. Look at Net kW and Miners Supported. If they’re in the wrong order of magnitude, fix the Site tab before touching anything else.
4. Set the Derates honestly — altitude, ambient, parasitic. This is where most paper-feasibility studies overstate by 20–30%.
5. Pick the carbon counterfactual that matches reality (vent vs flare) and the GWP horizon that matches your buyer.
6. Try each Deal structure. Note the Investor IRR / Payback for each; those are your negotiation anchors.
7. Stress-test with Bear/Bull BTC scenarios and a steeper decline. Anything that survives the bear case with IRR > hurdle is worth a real conversation.
8. Export or screenshot the Outputs panel and bring it to the host / investor meeting alongside the methodology page.

When you’ve sized a project you want to take further, the fastest next step is a 15-minute call to walk through the assumptions together — we can usually flag the two or three inputs that move the IRR the most for your specific site.

Or jump straight into the deep references: Glossary for every metric’s formula, Methodology for the tab-by-tab math, or Compare to put two gas sources head-to-head.