The California Energy Commission is backing an energy pilot that aims to leverage blockchain technology to reduce carbon footprints and encourage the use of renewable energy.
In a press release, the energy commission announced it is shelling out $9 million to help energy and transportation startup EVShare support a blockchain infrastructure that’s powered by Bitcoin. The project relies on the RSK public blockchain, which is a layer two smart contract protocol that operates on top of the Bitcoin network, to create a market that digitizes and trades carbon credits.
Participants will receive digital tokens for slashing their carbon footprint as well as creating and using renewable energy. Participants can use the tokens to buy electricity and pay for rides and services. All transactions will be registered on the RSK blockchain.
The project will also utilize the Bitcoin-powered blockchain to store transactions between participating vehicles along with other assets including batteries, chargers, and solar systems. Another use case of the blockchain involves the storing of usage data of vehicles, panels, batteries, and other assets on-chain.
The second phase of the pilot program was launched on August 7th, which sets the stage to illustrate the value of recording energy usage in a public ledger.
EVShare’s immediate goal is to connect 50 houses to the solar grid with the vision of transforming 1,000 cities to have a sustainable shared economy in ten years.
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