SolarCoin
URL = http://wiki.solarcoin.org/index.php?title=Lower_Carbon_currency
Description
Derek Markham:
"It seems appropriate that a new method of earning, spending, and trading value or assets, such as cryptocurrency enables, can be tied to a relatively new method of generating energy. And that’s the idea behind SolarCoin, an alternative currency backed by solar electricity production, which is designed to incentivize the production of 97,500 TWh of global solar generation over the next 40 years.
“SolarCoin is an alternative digital currency. SolarCoin is backed by two forms of proof of work. One is the traditional cryptographic proof of work associated with digital currency.
The other proof of work is a Solar Renewable Energy Certificate (SREC) that has been generated and 3rd party verified. SolarCoin is equitably distributed using both of these proofs of work as a means to reward renewable energy production.”
Each SolarCoin represents the generation of 1MWh of solar electricity, and the cryptocurrency can be used to pay for goods or services from individuals and businesses that accept it. SolarCoin, which is managed by the Open Currency Association (OCA) can be “earned” by solar power producers, can be mined (such as other cryptocurrencies are), or bought through an alternative currency exchange.
The goal of SolarCoin is to incentivize the global production of solar energy, which contrasts with some other alternative currencies, such as Bitcoin, which seeks a decentralized currency. The maximum issuance of SolarCoin is said to be about 98.1 billion (compare to Bitcoin’s maximum issuance of 21 million).
The basis for this crypocurrency is a 2011 paper co-authored by Nick Gogerty, of Thoughtful Capital Group, titled “DeKo: An Electricity-Backed Currency Proposal“." (http://ecopreneurist.com/2014/01/29/cryptocurrency-backed-solar-energy/)