Blockchain could be the future of renewable energy and the next chapter in smart technology, as the online platform is helping develop consumer-driven power generation. The technology is providing a new level of sophistication to our energy supplies which have previously been reliant on highly centralized systems. The potential opportunities are endless, and by increasing efficiency blockchain could also allow for a substantial reduction of carbon emissions. To put it simply blockchain is a list of records that securely stores information. It uses virtual technology to decentralize information by documenting it across a network of computers – no central entity runs the system, but many people can use it. Blockchain uses a form of data logging to ensure that the information cannot be changed or corrupted by anyone else.
Below are just 5 companies that are using blockchain in innovative ways to improve how we interact with our energy systems.
WePower – Estonia : Estonia’s 100% digital energy grid made implementing a blockchain platform easy for WePower. The startup joined forces with an independent energy provider and gave consumers a chance to buy into their program using their own cryptocurrency. Blockchain offers WePower a transparent platform on which consumers could monitor energy prices and adapt and diversify their energy portfolio off of their predictions. In their white paper, WePower explains that they see blockchain and renewable energy as the next power couple of the energy market – both being complementary.
WePower hopes that by helping small clean energy producers enter the market and by providing private citizens with a cheaper, decentralized electrical grid, that power returns to the people: “In reality, due to rapid technological advancements, the cost
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