Zero Carbon Project: A blockchain-based renewable energy market

Concern about the future of the environment is a well-established trend. An increasing number of businesses feel obliged to go green, under the pressure from both international organisations and the general public. Yet even though a vast majority of global consumers wants more renewable energy on the market, there remains a major obstacle that keeps both individuals and businesses from making the switch. Fossil fuels are simply less expensive. They are also more familiar and easier to get, especially on regulated markets where consumers simply may not have much choice.

https://www.zerocarbonproject.com/

Beond Group, an energy market consultancy firm, offers to solve those problems by establishing a decentralised online marketplace for renewable energy. This Zero Carbon Project would not only provide a new integrated platform for competitive energy trading, but also actively encourage the widespread adaptation of renewable energy through its ingenious token economy.

How will the Zero Carbon Markets work?

The Zero Carbon Project plans to eventually set up Markets in all countries with competitive power markets, starting with the United Kingdom in October 2018. Each Market will have separate platforms for household and business consumers. Registered suppliers will list their zero carbon energy contracts (either from actual renewable sources, or from fossil fuel sources but offset with the verified purchase of international carbon credits) on the Market. The household platform will allow users to compare their current energy contract with any competing offers. Businesses, meanwhile, will have access to an online reverse auction, letting suppliers bid for new large-scale consumers. Both of those platforms will be based on those that have already been used by Beond for years.

While the market itself will, at least initially, be off-blockchain, and the overall payments will be made in fiat, the settlement platform will be on a Ethereum blockchain and will use smart contracts and Energis tokens (NRG) to enable transaction fees and rewards. The fees will be paid in NRG but calculated in dollars based on the weighted average of NRG/USD trades during the previous day. Either suppliers or consumers could pay the fees, though the former is the default option. 70% of the NRG paid in fees will be added to a reward pool, from which they will be given out to users in exchange for registering, buying their first contract, consuming purchased energy and successfully referring others. Customers in countries with regulated markets will be able to purchase international carbon credits through a special service and be rewarded for it as well.

How can you win in the Zero Carbon ecosystem?

By setting up competition between different renewable and fossil fuel energy suppliers, but handicapping the latter with carbon offsets, Beond hopes to engineer a fairer marketplace where renewable energy suppliers will be able to compete while still keeping the prices below the norm. Household and business consumers alike should therefore be able to afford to either go green – or contribute to the carbon credit program. The recycling of tokens is expected to make the Markets more viable, while their limited supply and utility should help guarantee their value on third-party exchanges. It is expected that consumers would sell NRG back to the suppliers, who would need them for fees.

https://www.zerocarbonproject.com/

The benefit to both consumers and the cause of renewable energy is clear. Meanwhile, suppliers will mainly benefit from receiving access to a new dynamic and specialised market with considerably less overhead than the norm.

What makes the Zero Carbon Project stand out?

Both blockchain and renewable energy projects have never been short on idealism. This one, however, adds a welcome degree of pragmatism and experience, by proposing a way to harness market competition to benefit both consumers and the environment. Beond Group has been an energy consultancy and software firm since 1999. It has extensive connections and experience in the area it means to disrupt, and has already tested many elements of the current project's model over the last 15 years. Consumer support for cheap renewable energy seems like it could be taken for granted at this point. More significant is the fact that twelve suppliers have already signed on for the starting UK market, and more are expected to follow. The foundations for a healthy local ecosystem are already in place.

Token sale details

The private pre-sale started on 18 June, 2018 and will continue until its 20,000,000 NRG hard cap has been reached or a week before the public pre-sale date (to be announced).

A viable marketplace for a time of transition

Despite a great deal of enthusiasm, the full shift to renewable energy, if it is ever to be completed, is likely to take a comparatively long period of time. This may be seen as worrying from an environmental perspective, but from a business perspective, it is simply a fact which must be taken into consideration. In the short term, coexistence and competition between fossil fuels and “green” energy sources is likely to continue, though many measures are taken to support the latter.

The Beond Group seeks to tackle the problem directly, by encouraging that competition on a new platform while also making sure that it will benefit the shift. As a well-known company that already has a number of suppliers lined up for its market, it is likely to see at least some measure of success, though time will tell whether or not it will be able to expand to all of its target markets, and whether its somewhat experimental token economy will prove as sustainable as advertised in the longer run. However, if all goes well, its platform will be in good position to both accelerate the transition and benefit from the process – as would all of its participants.

Links:

Website: https://www.zerocarbonproject.com/
WhitePaper: https://bit.ly/2jA1Rf9
Telegram: https://t.me/ZeroCarbonProject
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2yJE3Qn
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ZeroCarbonPrjct
Medium: https://medium.com/zero-carbon-project
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3396140.0
Author: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2201409

Disclaimer
This review by Bonanza Kreep is all opinion and analysis, not investment advice.