This week SolarPlaza has launched a live monitor of all the European blockchain projects in the energy sector. Under the name Blockchain2Energy Europe Solarplaza is hosting its third conference focused on the practical and current-day applications of blockchain in the energy sector. It’s scheduled for the 13th of February in Amsterdam.
Blockchain clean technology solutions are spring up globally. At present we see 63 initiatives across 26 countries. Some are innovation efforts by major utilities and vendors. Others are fast-moving startups by cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. Many will disappear in the next year or two, but as a group they hold significant promise for innovation.
The high electricity consumption of bitcoin has been widely reported, with one widely reported (and disputed) estimate having it consume at peak more electricity than 159 countries. However, this is a temporary problem with cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, not an immutable feature.
In April of 2018, the CleanTechnica braintrust was surveyed for their opinions and sentiment on blockchain for cleantech.
They were asked nine questions about the impacts both positive and negative of blockchain on clean tech.
It’s safe to say that cleantech is going to involve blockchain and similar distributed ledger approaches. And it’s also safe to say that each of the technologies and approaches represented here have better and worse uses. If someone tells you that the answer is only one of these, then you can be pretty sure that they are enthusiasts, not architects.
The blockchain and related technologies assessed in the first part of this article, along with the evaluation criteria, are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ethereum Casper, and Hyperledger.
Nori, a company which recently emerged from stealth, is creating the Nori token. It’s a cryptocurrency token that represents a ton of CO2 removed from the atmosphere and sequestered in one of a number of potential ways. This isn’t a cap-and-trade or carbon-tax system, but a market mechanism which values removed tons of CO2. Like carbon offset programs for fliers and drivers, it allows individuals and businesses to offset their CO2 emissions with guaranteed removal of CO2 from the atmosphere.
How initial coin offerings and other blockchain-related funding models can be used for cleantech ventures.
Energy Web Foundation (EWF) has great bones. It was founded by two leading organizations in the clean energy space: the influential Rocky Mountain Institute founded by Amory Lovins in 1982 and the more recently formed Grid Singularity, a blockchain- and grid-fo- cussed organization with core Ethereum blockchain developers, experienced energy executives, energy regulators and technology entrepreneurs.
Electrical utilities which own the generation and distribution network will love smart contracts. They get all of the advantages while purchasers get most of the disadvantages. They have guaranteed payment, no accounts receivable problems, and the contracts will be between only two entities, so they’ll be simple.
