While it’s important that we find ways to reduce emissions from cryptocurrencies, it’s also important to not forget that we need to be reducing emissions in government-run currency systems. The funniest thing is when we see the occasional government official tell us that bitcoin’s emissions are bad while their convoluted system is belching out far more pollutants.
Alternet Systems (ALYI) is building the Retro ReVolt BMW R71 Clone Electric Motorcycle, and taking pre-orders starting in December, including via cryptocurrency.
Zimbabwe has been experiencing a prolonged petrol and diesel shortage for 3 years and counting, with no solution in sight. The country is struggling to raise foreign currency to import these fossil fuels, so spending 30% of its hard-earned foreign currency by literally burning it in ICE vehicles is just crazy!
Just a few years ago, the notion of a consumer-driven energy sector was unheard of, much less within the African context. Fast-forward to 2019, and blockchain is opening a new energy chapter, driven by smart technologies.
You can bet your bottom dollar that nuclear power stakeholders will be happy to solve the bitcoin carbon emissions problem.
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.
A modest little rooftop solar project in the heart of coal country signals the potential for cryptocurrency and blockchain to accelerate renewable energy.
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.
