For all the progress made in renewables, energy generation is still by and far the largest human activity that negatively impacts the environment. Our energy generation is heavily reliant on the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, and with the industry still expanding in the third world, it is still a growing problem. In our last post we looked at climate neutral fuel and how developments in IoT and blockchain could be used to provide leverage and impactful solutions. The same underlying principles still apply when looking at energy.

The generation of energy, predominantly electricity, accounts for approximately 35% of global Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions in industrialized nations, predominantly resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal, and oil. If we were to exclude heavy industry and transportation industries who are responsible for emissions associated with direct fuel combustion, the carbon footprint associated with the rest of the commercial and private sectors mainly comprise emissions from energy consumption and heating. It therefore comes as no surprise that environmental legislation and compliance relating to the commercial sector is primarily focussed on energy-related GHG emissions.

The Critical Role of Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is the notion of finding methods to reduce the amount of energy required while still being able to cover the demand for products and services. For example, improving a building’s insulation means that it will require less energy to heat in winter, and less energy to keep cool in the summer. Replacing incandescent light bulbs with lower voltage LED equivalent lighting, and finding more ways to get natural lighting into a building through the use of skylights and optimal window placement can offer vast improvements in the amounts of energy that need to be consumed.

Energy efficiency solutions like these not only reduce the need for less energy to be consumed, they also directly translate to reduced energy costs for households and business.

As opposed to energy reduction efforts that can seem draconian and whose main aim is to regulate human behavior to consume less energy, energy efficiency solutions are a more balanced approach as they incentivize people to modify their behaviors in a way that fits their lifestyles and business practices.

Furthermore, energy efficiency gains allow us to focus on technological advancements, production optimizations and commonly accepted best practices for impactful results. This in and of itself creates a demand in the market for any such improvements further incentivizing progress in each of these fields. Energy efficiency is thus a massive field and a major driver of technological innovation.

Combining Renewables with Efficiency for Maximum Impact

Energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies are now widely acknowledged to be the “twin pillars” for reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.

The notable renewable energy sources that are weaning us off fossil fuels are solar power, wind power, biomass for electricity, geothermal energy, hydroelectric power and hydrokinetic energy. Renewables come with environmental impacts of their own, such as water resource displacement, land degradation and even changes to the natural habitat so projects need to be carefully managed. Their main promise is that the tech can scale down to consumer level as more people turn to renewables themselves and going off-grid.

Advances in technology along with markets that widely distribute technology to businesses and consumers are showing the greatest promise with the biggest impact in energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions. Yet, for all the advances in technology, there will still be a reliance on fossil fuels to generate energy for the foreseeable future, which means we will still be faced with residual GHG emissions.

The Final Step to Climate Neutrality

As with fuel efficiency, our mantra is the same — “reduce what you can, mitigate the rest”. At impactChoice we have been innovating end-to-end environmental sustainability solutions since 2009. We believe that companies can reduce costs and increase profits by applying environmentally sustainable solutions to their operations. Our approach involves measuring the extent of an activity’s environmental impact by conducting audits and setting a baseline, manage objectives through operational optimizations and performance analysis, then employ direct mitigation and engage supply chain partners to compensate for residual emissions once all other reductions have been achieved. These solutions work, they have a positive impact on the environment and they can even save on costs and can result in increased ROI. Our solutions work fine for industry and large-scale projects, but to have a real impact on the environment we need to work on solutions that meet the needs of ordinary people in order to give them a choice to make impactful choices.

The Importance of Blockchain

At impactChoice we see Blockchain technology as having the ability to tie all of the pieces together into a more sustainable energy system. On the demand side, it is applicable to everybody. It can modularise all energy components, from industrial-scale down to the consumer level. The demand for energy solutions and products can be tokenized and traded on open markets. People use electricity in their daily lives and use is easily measurable. In a future that will involve more of our devices being connected to the internet, and as the internet of things (IoT) achieves a higher fidelity, measuring, monitoring and mitigating electricity use can be automated. All device interactions that involve the exchange of value can be done with tokens and smart contracts.

On the supply side, natural asset producers will be able to follow sophisticated buy side signals to set their output targets. This can foster new cottage industries to sprout such as domestic solar energy micro-grids and factory farms using methane digesters to generate electricity supplying excess energy back into the main grid. If their local grid cannot absorb their excess energy, they will be able to create natural assets, record on a blockchain and sell them on the Natural Assets Exchange.

We hold a vision where blockchain can bring environmental sustainability solutions and choice to everybody and we are excited to share that vision with you.