“We’ve had bigger storms than this” - said U.S. President Donald Trump to reporters when asked if Hurricane Irma had changed his views on climate change.

The man who has the most influential job in the world is leading the chant of climate change deniers. Moreover, Trump has already acted on his beliefs - consequences of the USA withdrawal from the Paris Climate Change Agreement in May, are still widely debated.

pexels.com Hurricane

However, not all people share the same view about the disastrous consequences of the latest hurricanes and climate change in general. Sir Richard Branson, the English business magnate, investor and philanthropist, shared his thoughts on Facebook:

“When I opened the door after Hurricane Irma, I looked out over Necker Island, saw the horrendous devastation and felt enormously sad and worried for the whole BVI. But I also felt extremely angry at climate change deniers and more motivated than ever to help unite the world behind climate action.”

Energy - a huge source of CO2

Unfortunately, the biggest polluters are people. 7.5 billion People live in today’s world, and they produceCO2 in various ways, sometimes without even realizing it. Do you pollute when reading this article? Yes. You see, this article is read on an electronic device that needs electricity and nowadays the world is running on dirty energy. Moreover, the demand for electricity continues to grow every day.

To be exact, 78.4% of the total energy consumption is produced by polluting the environment and increasing climate change[1]. Due to a drop in the investment level this year, it became difficult to reach the 100% renewable energy target[2]. Without higher investment into renewable energy, the fight against climate change will not be successful. 2008, when prices in the global oil market have reached record levels, developed countries have started to increase their use of alternative energy sources and develop renewable energy programs.

With new technologies and decreasing prices for renewable energy production, the shift from dirty to clean energy became foreseeable. But the most important thing is that it will not require decades to see the change.

Empowering the sharing of economic principles in the energy sector

One of the ways used to increase renewable energy production and its use in the world is to create the necessary clean energy supply according to the market price, but to reach this, somebody has to finance the renewable energy production. Access to the missing capital can be created by empowering every person to become part of the change. Sharing economic principles in the energy market could solve the problems faced by the producers of renewable energy projects and generate good returns for everyone.

With the help of blockchain and smart contracts, it is now finally possible to create global and transparent networks for the distribution of green energy, where each one of us can become green energy producers, buyers or investors in green energy.

pexels.com Windmills on Shore

Investing in Green Power has become easier and easier for everyone

With the aim of fighting back against global warming, entrepreneurs have started creating platforms that are tokenizing energy and enabling the transparent global financing and trading of green energy. Technology ensures full transparency – everyone can know where and what energy they’ve bought and when it was produced as well as consumed. This makes the buying of future energy production safe, profitable and liquid. From the perspective of a renewable energy producer, this allows the sale of tokenized energy to cover the construction costs of renewable energy plants.

With such a business model based on novel technology, everyone can buy energy tokens globally, regardless of the place a person lives. As an example, such platforms would enable Koreansto buy the clean energy in Spain, where the energy is produced according to the market price, and make profits from the difference between the price paid for the energy upfront and the price of the energy at the moment of its production.

With such monetary benefits, who would not want to invest in green energy and save the planet? The first platform offering such a solution is We Power, whose model increases a renewable energy producer’s return on equity ratio by 25% and offers energy buyers a return of 17-20%.

How does it work?

Blockchain platforms connected to the energy infrastructure can connect energy tokens with the data about the energy that will be produced at a certain point in time. The energy tokens represent the ownership right of a specific amount of energy to be produced in the future. The ease of buying and selling tokens allows the global trading of tokenized energy on a blockchain.

The trades are done through the conclusion of smart contracts, which represent power purchase agreements and indicate when the energy will be produced, what price was paid for it, and calculate the difference between the price paid and the market price. The smart contracts ensure liquidity and standard purchase rules for everyone. Investors can easily transfer them and exit from their investments made in renewable energy. Once the energy is produced, it can be either used by the token owner or sold to the energy market at the current market price.

Starting with renewable energy project financing, such platforms could become the next generation of utility companies based on the core principles of decarbonisation, democratization and decentralization. Eventually, every one of us will join together in the movement to stop the pollution of our planet by investing in and using green energy.

[1]Please see REN21 Report 2017 here: http://www.ren21.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/170607_GSR_2017_Full_Report.pdf (p.30).

[2]Please see REN21 Report 2017 here: http://www.ren21.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/170607_GSR_2017_Full_Report.pdf (p110).

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