If there are two things changing the world right now, it’s blockchain technology and renewable energy.
The world is poised to see how fast it will take to see mass adoption of cryptocurrencies. It is likewise waiting with bated breath to see if renewable energy generation and storage will achieve sufficient market penetration in time to combat climate change.
Both these technologies have proven commercial viability beyond the shadow of a doubt, but are yet to achieve critical mass for mainstream adoption.
These two technologies and industries may seem radically different from each other with very dissimilar goals at first glance. Are they really so different though?
Several green ICOs have been gaining attention for their bold plans in tackling the renewable energies market using blockchain, and WePower has been leading the charge.
Having just finished their $40 million ICO, WePower’s large amount of financial backing coupled with their expert execution has brought the notion of green ICOs further into the mainstream eye.
If you’ve been considering investing in ICOs for its incredible opportunities and your conscience is telling you to go green, here are the 3 ICOs that could be next WePower.
Swytch
The first thing you might notice about Swytch is just how many companies share the same name. As you can probably guess, we’re not talking about the device that turns bicycles into e-bikes or the phone service provider but rather Swytch.io, the blockchain-based company built loosely upon the concept of carbon trading.
Swytch differs from many projects that are designed to trade energy; instead, it places emphasis on verification of clean energy production.
By providing real-time verification of data at the source of the energy creation, Swytch creates a very real trail of breadcrumbs to show where and how renewable energy is being generated and consumed.
Swytch can be thought of as a secondary stimulus to the production of clean energy. Rather than directly investing or becoming involved in the production, they allow for consumers and investors to make educated choices. That’s the benefit to the consumer, while the producer is directly rewarded via ERC-20 tokens that can be traded, or even exchanged for fiat currencies.
Swytch’s ICO will run from February 15 to March 15, 2018 with their SET tokens available for $1 each. The sale will be limited to 365 million tokens.
For more information on Swytch, you can refer to their website or whitepaper.
New Era Energy (NERA)
NERA works on what they describe as “proof of green”.
It’s conceptually very similar to Swytch in that it’s designed to confirm and track the production and consumption of clean energy.
Their focus is on the issuing of Energy Reduction Units (ERUs) to prove that a manufacturer has used renewable energy or taken steps to reduce their carbon emissions. It is a new spin on the idea of carbon credits, ERU’s can then be exchanged for NERA tokens, an ERC-20 compliant token. This provides real incentivization for carbon reduction.
NERA cites several studies claiming that more than 60% of Americans are willing to pay more for a product if it has been produced in an environmentally-friendly manner. This is their way of tapping into what they describe as $200 billion of “available green funds”.
All proof of green records are digitally signed on the Ethereum blockchain, with tokens being 100% pre-mined.
Whitelist registration for their ICO is from February 5 to February 25, 2018. The public sale will start on March 8, 2018 and the tokens can be bought with ether.
More information can be found in NERA’s whitepaper.
Greeneum
Supporting eco-conscious energy use, Greeneum is another company looking to tackle the entire spectrum of renewable energy. Greeneum focuses on the three areas that they claim need the most attention and innovation for a cleaner future based on renewable energy.
Much like NERA, they are establishing a market for incentivizing the supply and use of green energy. They are actively trying to foster not just a community of renewable energy users, but also provide the environment which will allow it to grow beyond that. Their two other areas of focus are the technology that will allow this, such as their use of blockchain, as well as utilizing the data that this system provides.
Greeneum issues Green, an ERC-20 token that can be used for the purchase of products in the Greeneum marketplace. It can also be used to purchase carbon certificates, allowing business to offset their carbon footprint.
Green can be traded for Green Carbon Credits (GCC) which is an ERC721 token. GCCs can be exchanged for cryptocurrencies or fiat currencies, allowing companies to make real profits from reducing their carbon emissions.
Greeneum claims that carbon credits will be worth a staggering $3.5 trillion by the year 2020. This certainly seems like an industry worth targeting.
Their whitepaper and website provide a more in-depth look of the project’s aims.
Final Thoughts
It’s apparent that there are several companies competing for dominance of the “new carbon economy”.
Taking a deeper dive and looking at their respective whitepapers might give an indication to which company is more likely to succeed. However, clean energy is a colossal industry that is already accommodating many competing and successful companies outside of the blockchain world, so it makes sense that there is enough room for a few more.
Whichever niche you’re interested in, perhaps spreading your funds across several ICOs could be a clever way of minimising risk.
