But here's an example of on of those "pockets of opportunity".

Here's a problem needing an effective and affordable solution: Drying of grains in rural areas

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The CapEx (equipment) and OpEx (electricity or flame) for drying of grains and other agricultural products is so high that the ultra-low cost alternative is to simply spread the grains on the shoulder of a tarmacked road and let the sun do its magic. Yummy, right? And just pray that nobody gets run over.

Of course, bitcoin mining rigs produce heat that is suitable for grain drying. So even if the cost per kWh is higher such that mining is essentially a wash (little no profit from mining), that might still be done so as to use the ventilated heat be used for drying grains. There are commercial grain dryers, many of which run on natural gas, and some that use electricity for heat, but I'm not aware of any that have been fabricated to use heat coming from bitcoin ASIC mining rigs. Bitcoin mining very well could be useful for this.