Each and every aspect of our lives will radically change thanks to blockchain technology. No centralizing corporation will be able to escape the "decentralization effect." That is why I always say that the process that was launched with Satoshi Nakamoto's White Paper means a quantum leap in human evolution. Although many still play the little Wall Street game with cryptocurrencies as if they were company shares, with a much higher APY, thinking people are working to create a new reality in human development.
Typically, the electrical energy in the world is generated by large plants, and then it is distributed in high and medium voltage lines that travel hundreds of kilometers until reaching the end user. Since electricity is known, the human being has wanted to find a different way, where he/she can generate and consume his/her own energy. However, for many decades, the cost of making it a reality was not attractive, as it is today. For a few years, several countries have implemented a scheme that allows users to generate, consume and sell energy generated with solar panels to the country's interconnected network. Distributed generation plants can generate energy through solar panels, use it on your property and inject surplus energy into the electricity grid. When energy travels long distances to reach the end user, there are considerable losses in transportation, which in fact affects energy costs and the prices that users must pay.
Many homes, industries, and cities are successfully incorporating their own solar energy production. But, remembering that anarchy is not the absence of rules, but of regulators, a set of rules is obviously needed to coordinate and make efficient use of the energy generated by its own means. That is why blockchain platforms are beginning to appear with the aim to order the process of generation and distribution of energy generated at home.
Vertically integrated plants decide where and when to install a power generation plant, together with governments and states that grant privileges. They also decide where to install the distribution networks and who can have power and who cannot, of course, always based on the profitability of the shareholders. They keep power and control perfectly balanced, and, of course, they set the price we must pay for energy. They also "categorize" us, as if energy had categories. In short, the current model means total energy slavery on our part, the consumers, in the hands of governments and corporations that decide to channel a river and build a reservoir to generate electricity or install a nuclear plant in the most profitable place.
The truth is that the technological revolution changed the balance of power between consumers and centralized authorities, which also in this area are gradually losing the power they once had. Now we start talking about Distributed Energy Resources (DER) like solar photovoltaic systems (PV), batteries, microgrids, and embedded networks that will radically change the power balance from central authorities to the edges of the grid, to where citizens have control. It is not just a question of controlling the cost of energy, but of the desire of the new generations to be kinder to the planet and to use nature to obtain sustainable, socially responsible energy, and that there is not a great distance between the center of production and place of consumption. All that is needed is an energy management model that takes the power out of the hands of the big players and gives it to the people in a kind of co-creation of the energy we use to live.
My good friend Sugarfix suggested I take a close look at these two coins, POWR and ETW. They are two tokens created to promote the development of energy decentralization. From two different perspectives, but with the same objective, POWR and ETW propose advanced solutions for energy inequality.
Ranking Coingecko #281
The company behind POWR is Powerledger
Powerledger develops software for its clients and partners that enables consumers and producers to track and trade every kilowatt of power. The idea is to re-imagine the network as a decentralized and trustless platform. This new paradigm will see ever-increasing levels of automation, not by a small number of large-scale centralized investments, but by millions of micro-investments distributed across the system.
A trading platform is a network that allows consumers to sell energy to their peers in a trustless environment. It is a new component of the distributed economy that allows consumers to realize the value of their investment in DER by allowing them to monetize their excess energy in much the same way as Uber and Airbnb allow people to monetize their cars and spare rooms.
As stated in the , the Power LEDGER ecosystem is a platform that uses two currencies: POWR and Sparkz. POWR tokens are frictionless blockchain tokens that allow Application Hosts and Participants access to and use of the Platform (like a limited software licensing permission). Sparkz tokens are issued against escrowed POWR tokens, via a Smart Bond, and used by the Application Host to onboard its customers. Application Hosts are entities and businesses that run an Application on the Platform. Applications may also be developed by third parties, using the Platform's designs and services to fast-track innovative consumer applications. The POWR to Sparkz ratio for third-party developers may be adjusted depending on their customer feedback and reputation. Sparkz, the “low-level” token, is specifically limited to representing the tokenized value of a unit of electricity in varying markets around the world. Sparkz and POWR tokens will be exchangeable, connecting the functions of the Ecosystem. Sparkz maintains a steady exchange rate between local market electricity prices and the exchange-priced POWR token. Consumers and Prosumers buy and sell energy, which is settled with Sparkz tokens and may redeem the Sparkz for cash via their Application Host. POWR tokens can be used directly in P2P trading between Prosumers and Consumers, with near zero intermediation - and this is the way markets will operate as deregulation in the sector moves forward in the years to come.
The POWR, an ERC20 token, will serve as the fuel of the Power Ledger Ecosystem. POWR tokens help to facilitate low costs and better returns on electricity.
POWR tokens are required to generate Sparkz. Sparkz is a local market-level token and is priced for the exchange market they are deployed in.
POWR could be staked to secure Powerledger’s Energy Blockchain, allowing the owner to earn rewards whilst being part of the renewable energy transition.
The Power Ledger team can be seen in detail on the company's website. It is led by Dr. Jemma Green and the main collaborators are John BulichVinod Tiwari
Ranking Coingecko #184
The company behind EWT is Energy Web
With a similar objective, but from a different point of view, Energy Web offers solutions to improve coordination between energy producers, distributors, and consumers. The company's mission seems very universal: "accelerate the decarbonization of the global economy."
The Energy Web community is the largest open-source ecosystem focused on decentralized technology and the energy transition.
Energy Web builds open-source decentralized operating systems. A user can use Energy Web's open source stack to build their own applications or they can hire the company to assist them in developing their own solution and thus speed up processes. The EW-STACK is a suite of open source tools built on top of the Energy Web Chain, the world's first public, enterprise-grade blockchain tailored to the energy sector. With this, Technology Energy Web has grown the EW Community into the world's largest energy blockchain ecosystem, developing 46 projects, in 21 countries, for 41 partners. The Energy Web Decentralized Operating System (EW-DOS) has three layers that work together to enable the development and deployment of decentralized applications for the energy sector and beyond.
Energy Web Token (EWT) is the Energy Web Chain's native utility token. Tokens are used in EW-DOS to pay for gas fees and escrow for utility-layer services. You will need EWT in your digital wallet if you want to make transactions or use applications or smart contracts that are deployed on the Energy Web Chain main network.
Most public blockchains have a utility token that is native to that blockchain. A utility token is a digital asset that is designed to access services and orchestrate stakeholders within its blockchain system In the context of the Energy Web Chain, utility tokens compensate validators for processing transactions and are used to pay for utility services performed on the blockchain - for example, registering a new asset or organization in Switchboard, or validating a certificate in Origin.
On the company's site, you can see an extensive team made up of people from the most varied careers, necessary to face a global problem such as the one indicated by the company's mission.
The team is led by Jesse Morris, who is the current CEO and former CCO of Energy Web. Prior to EWF, Jesse was a principal in the Electricity Practice of EWF co-founder Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI). He holds a Bachelor's degree in International Environmental Policy from Colorado College.
Conclusion
Power grids as we know them, and everything associated with them, are changing rapidly. Decentralization is an extreme revolution in our way of generating, storing, moving, and consuming energy. POWR and EWT tokens have a very deep reason for being in the global transformation towards decentralization. At the moment they do not have much appeal to be stored or staked. But we don't know what will happen when a new planetary energy production or distribution begins to take shape.
In the same way that products are bought and sold on an eBay-type online platform, in the very near future it will be possible to buy and sell energy from a smartphone, but, unlike eBay, this will be done through decentralized platforms in which the rules will be set by smart contracts.
The decentralization of energy sources will become more noticeable as wind, solar and storage technologies become more cost-competitive in investment and become increasingly affordable.
For those of us who currently only consume energy, whether, in our homes or businesses, decentralization means that we will become more and more involved in the production of energy and also in its storage. We will evolve from unilateral energy consumers to multidirectional energy prosumers.
Blockchain technology, which is currently asymmetrically biased towards cryptocurrencies, is producing a silent revolution in all aspects of our lives that goes almost unnoticed by most people. Soon, we will find ourselves living in a world that is more equal, more sustainable, and more worth living in.
This same silent revolution is going to happen in the food industry, the entertainment industry, the health industry, and the textile industry, that is, all aspects of our lives will be crossed by decentralization. It's just a matter of time. Consequently, many political problems arising from this restructuring of the international corporate network will have to be resolved.
Thank you for reading! Decentralize yourselves as much as you can, and much more! Work for yourselves, not for others. When you work for someone else, they pay you what YOUR POSITION is worth, when you work for yourself, they pay you what YOU are worth. No one achieves financial independence by working as an employee. Live long and prosper!
As usual, none of the things written in this post are financial advice and are not intended to replace personal research. My sole intention in writing this post is informative. Several of the things discussed here could be wrong, so in no way can this post be construed as financial advice, and in no way should it replace your own research.
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