Energycoin: Can Blockchain make the connection to decentralised renewable energy?
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Energycoin (ENRG) is a cryptocurrency that focuses on the renewable energy industry. It was created in 2014 by a group of developers who wanted to promote sustainable living and encourage the use of renewable energy. While Energycoin has seen its ups and downs, it remains a fully-functional blockchain with a cryptocurrency, classified as a utility token.
The first block in the energycoin blockchain was formed exactly 8 years ago on 30 April 2014, and the public network has been live ever since.
Time for Cake!
energycoin 8 years
This short article will look at Energycoin’s past, present, and future.
Energycoin? What was that all about?
Energycoin is a digital currency that uses a proof-of-stake protocol to secure its network. Transactions verified by computers that get a reward in Energycoin for their efforts. This decentralized approach makes Energycoin less vulnerable to attack and eliminates the need for a central authority. The Energycoin blockchain also supports a fork of Counterparty, the asset layer on top of Bitcoin, called “Energyparty”. Energyparty can be used to create assets tied to on-chain or off-chain values, to enable real-life economies between people and things.
The future of Energycoin
What does the future hold for Energycoin? Here are a few possibilities:
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- Energycoin could see a revival in popularity, retaking its place between the other cryptocurrencies and tokens focusing on ESG values.
- Renewable energy could become more widespread, offering new opportunities for Energycoin.
- The Energycoin team has started involvement in innovative new projects that benefit renewable energy resource development (more on this in our next update)
The Foundation focuses on the 3rd option, the other items are consequences of any success in reaching that ambition.
Why Energycoin is still relevant
Despite the initial setbacks, Energycoin remains relevant today. The brand and the Foundation’s focus on renewable energy are more important than ever as the world slowly moves towards a hybrid energy resource mix. In addition, Energycoin’s blockchain technology offers some significant advantages over proof of work cryptocurrencies. Transactions are quick and easy, and the blockchain has proven reliable throughout its eight-year history.
Conclusion
Energycoin is a cryptocurrency created in 2014 as a fork of Peercoin. It focuses on renewable energy, and the Foundation hope to use it to further the energy transition. Energycoin has had a rocky history and trades on a single exchange. It has limited liquidity and a relatively old code-base to develop modern practical dApps. Therefore, the Foundation is starting to work on a way forward to put renewable energy assets on a blockchain first and further develop the Energycoin cryptocurrency aspect later.
Stay tuned. Our next update contains more details of this renewed journey with Energycoin.
Update August 2020
Posted by Anne-Marie Pronk in News | 0 comments
A short look back
We started the year with high hopes for two concrete implementations in a pilot. Energycoin was used as a token to convert climate savings into value on the blockchain. The first project involved the Ring-Ring bicycle app: distances traveled by bike became a CO2 saving, and a token became an Energycoin. The integration worked thanks to our technical partners on both sides.
The second project was temporary; together with Warm Sweaterday, the biggest national climate campaign in the Netherlands organized by Klimaatverbond Nederland and Shifft, heating savings were converted into CO2 savings and valued in ENRG.
Parallel to these pilots, the B-DER project of the University Utrecht went through the implementation phase and together with the developers at Bloxico the foundation delivered the open-source p2p blockchain-based market as part of the research project. We also want to know if people want to exchange their generated solar energy for other means than money. Student Elena Georgarakis of the University Utrecht designed a survey and wrote her Master Thesis about Energy exchange between households What are the preferences for exchanging locally generated renewable energy in the Netherlands? Currently, the B-DER project is closing as the research is done and the results will be published soon.
Looking forward
Now we are in August, and things start to become active again, in the first half of 2020 the foundation has planted a few seeds to get busy in the second half.
Toukomst
August 20th, we had a meeting to talk about teaming up with local initiatives in the province Groningen. The region invests in the future of its citizens and economy (Toukomst project). Many (local) parties brought creativity to the table on how to do that. The foundation took part in the previous round, due to our link to the next project, to harvest ideas. Now it is time to partner with similar initiatives and leverage each other. We will try to bring the Energycoin blockchain in as a backbone for different Energycoins based tokens, as we did in the pilots mentioned before.
Hackathon Hanzehogeschool Groningen
The foundation will participate in the opening days of the Hanze Hogeschool, September 2nd, 3d and 4th. We developed the program together with Dr. Margreet Boersma lecturer Sustainable Finance Management and her team. In three days the students Business Studies will participate in a hackathon, a design sprint-like event in which they will work together in groups on a real-life case on the ecosystem of the Energy Coin Foundation. The week is supported by delegates from peer to peer energy exchange of local sustainable energy (Resourcefully) and citizens community energy initiative Grunneger Power and facilitated by lecturers through the Design Thinking principles.
The teams are able to achieve the honor of the best pitch, evaluated by a mixed panel of delegates, at the end of the week. They will develop an evidence-based research proposal in the weeks after, according to the concept they came up with during the hackathon. We are honored that the Hanzehogeschool asked us to get involved and define viable business models for the current Energycoin blockchain and its green ties. A possible follow up here is that one of those ideas is part of further research and implementation by the students during their year.
Amsterdam and the Dougnut Economy
In the background, there are talks with the city of Amsterdam. And to become part of a group that works and studies the possibilities of a green-based value economy. We don’t post about this; usually, most of the time, these talks take months of other meetings to progress. But to give all of you an indication that even though we keep getting involved in projects, we also try to unearth the next steps.
How should all of this reflect on Energycoin
That depends, we as a foundation implement our statues, we try to facilitate the use of blockchain technology first, and if it is on Energycoin that is preferred. In our humble view, everything is there for the simplest solutions needing alternative tokens or climate community currencies. We hope that everyone who still follows the Telegram or our posts on other social channels understands the road we take is a long one.
But we try to achieve what the founders of the foundation, including Jan Clement, put down when bringing the foundation to life in 2016. A green currency that works in real life, a reality that changes by the day. What we try to facilitate is a green token economy as an instrument for local climate policy goals, that becomes readily accepted as it connects existing initiatives and regulations though the valuation of intangibles and makes everyday climate choices visible.
We realize fully, every country, region, or even cities have their laws and cultural acceptance. Therefore, we take part in local projects that bring us closer to the goal of a green token economy where saved emissions become inputs for the next step in the process, whether in money or in-kind. The speed is limited to our “doers” network, and our network is huge but it looks like people lack time to do new experiments like this.
We realize this does not bring any monetary gains to the coin. Still, as stated before, we try to turn Energycoin into that green value economy tool for projects that already exist and save climate values in one way or another. Most of the time, these projects are most of the temporary, pilots, or subsidized, and you are dealing with (semi)regulated partners most of the time. We also have to fight an uphill battle against the image of Bitcoin in those circles, which was a learning curve for us too.
The coming period looks promising, but again it is months and not days.
EnergyCoin Dashboard (ECD) Phase 2
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ECD is finally on the Blockchain and long expected converting climate savings into a value is now possible; with ECD phase 2 tested and in production you can start cycling, and via Ring-Ring track your mileage, routes and earn EnergyCoin through the ECD! If you don’t have an account, don’t wait any longer to create one! Download Ring-Ring on your iPhone or Android smartphone and connect with ECD! Make sure to take a look at the article where you can see how to create an account on the ECD and join the pilot.
*NOTE: Your email address has to be the same as your login email address for Ring-Ring!
The dashboard displays accumulated ENRG value, accumulated Bicycle Bits (BB) value and your green behavior (prevented CO2 emission) as a graph for each day you were active. Here is how the Dashboard looks like:
Generate EnergyCoin address!
To start getting rewards, you must generate your own EnergyCoin address. You can create an account on one of the following exchanges: Crex24, Nova Exchange or Bitibu. If you have any issues generating your address or receiving funds, make sure to join our Telegram channel and ask any question; you’ll get a response ASAP.
New partnership for ECD integrating soon
As you already may know, we have a partnership with WarmSweaterDay, the biggest Climate Action in the Netherlands that had a huge success on the 15th of February this year with over 200k participants! Their partner Shifft uses smart gas meter technology which they are going to integrate with ECD in order to show the difference in energy usage between March 2018 and March 2019 on our dashboard. Based on that, participants on the WarmSweaterday pilot project will get WSD’s virtual token that will be exchangeable for ENRG on ECD, just like Bicycle Bits.
Phase two around the corner
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EnergyCoin Dashboard (ECD) phase 2 is now in closed beta, our development team is testing it and thus far the results are good. Very soon, the dashboard will go live with new features and transactions are going to be enabled. Then you start to earn EnergyCoin by choosing the bicycle over a car! With the ECD you are able to track your Green Behaviour, it will be displayed on a dashboard and one of the measures is in avoided CO2 emissions. Phase 2 is around the corner, so if you don’t have already an account, make sure to download on your iPhone or Android Ring-Ring and afterwards register on ECD!
Don’t forget your ENRG address
Your ENRG rewards are going to be displayed on ECD, but to receive your funds, you’ll need your EnergyCoin address from exchange or wallet. Every account is going to be able to set one address only, but it can be changed at any point. Transactions are going to be automatic, so make sure to generate your ENRG address before even creating account on ECD!
If you want to HODL ENRG funds, then download desktop wallet or generate web wallet address; if you have problem with syncing desktop wallet, read this article where it is all explained.
If you want to instantly trade ENRG funds you received, then you should check one of the following exchanges and pick the best fit for you: Crex24, Bitibu or Nova Exchange.
For more info and charts about EnergyCoin check CoinMarketCap.
This update was also posted @Medium.
EnergyCoin Dashboard phase two!
Posted by Anne-Marie Pronk in News | 0 comments
EnergyCoin Dashboard (ECD) phase two features
In the current version of the ECD you could see your green behaviour, originated on Ring-Ring, represented in CO2 emission savings and ENRG. In the next phase of the ECD you are going to be able to receive the collected ENRG on your ENRG address, which you enter on your ECD profile. There will be only one address at the time, which can be changed at any point. There will be a link to the EnergyCoin Explorer, as well.
We will enable transactions and transactions status; our partners will start rewarding their users via the EnergyCoin dashboard for green behaviour in this phase! This phase will be ready in February. Now in phase two we are greeting another partners joining the EnergyCoin Dashboard too.
ECD partners
Our current partner, that is already integrated with the ECD is Ring-Ring. They will be able to start rewarding their users as soon as phase two is live. Warmsweaterday (and their technical partner Shifft) will be joining in the ECD phase two, start rewarding their users for saving energy by lowering heat power in their houses and putting on a sweater. Warmsweaterday is the biggest climate action in Netherlands (more than 173.000 participants already) , and Shifft is a company that offers an online platform for managing smart energy-use through smart meters, social interaction and gamification.
Marketplaces for redeeming ENRG
There are 5 places where rewards that you would receive through the ECD could be sent: If you want to HODL your ENRG rewards, you can use desktop wallet or web wallet. Now, if you are trading type of person, there are three exchanges where you can deposit and trade ENRG: Crex24, Nova Exchange, and Bitibu which is the newest exchange where ENRG can be deposited and traded. It’s more than easy to create an account on every of these platforms, so make sure to have one per platform and chose the best fit for you; transactions in the ECD are going to be automatic so ENRG would be sent to the address that you put as yours on your profile. Since ENRG is an active coin, you can see all the information about it: prices, charts, etc on CoinMarketCap.
Hurry up; make an account on ECD via Ring-Ring and start cycling! Number of accounts in this pilot is limited to a hundred of users, so be one of them.
This update was also posted @Medium
EnergyCoin is back on CoinMarketCap!
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As you may all know, due to a low volume in October, ENRG was delisted from Bittrex exchange, which caused setting it as an inactive coin on CMC. Now that we have secured the liquidity of the coin, and have active ENRG markets, we are back on CMC as an active coin! You can see all the information about EnergyCoin on CoinMarketCap. Keep trading guys!
Active marketplaces
There are three active ENRG marketplaces: Crex24, Nova Exchange and Bitibu. For now, those three are the current active marketplaces containing BTC — ENRG pair. However, BTC — ENRG is not the only market pair on the three mentioned marketplaces; there are additional market pairs on both Nova Exchange and Bitibu: DOGE — ENRG and BTB — ENRG, which widens the scope of trading options with EnergyCoin.
Thanks to the progress we’ve made alongside our community of both supporters and traders: we’re finally back on CoinMarketCap! Now, let’s strive to progress even further and move ENRG towards the the very first pages on CMC. We can do it!
In case you feel risky about trading ENRG on the current bear market and decide to keep your stash for the better days; do not hesitate to use our web and desktop wallet.
Stay tuned for the further updates, peeps! We’re planning to release new details regarding Phase Two of the EnergyCoin Dashboard Application next week.
Thanks for sticking by!
This update was also published at Medium
Cyclists can earn carbon credits
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EnergyCoin Foundation, Ring-Ring and Bloxico launch a marketplace to capture and exchange value of local climate action. Cyclists can now earn the virtual token Bicycle Bits for every hundred kilometers they cycle. The bicycle kilometers are registered via an app and are stored on a EnergyCoin Dashboard. A Bicycle Bit is a certified emission reduction credit for avoiding greenhouse gas emissions and fine particles by traveling by bicycle.
The EnergyCoin Foundation and the technical development team Bloxico work together with Ring-Ring, the service that has encouraged the use of the bicycle for more than five years at dozens of companies and organizations and accurately records the bicycle kilometers that have been made. With one bicycle kilometer you avoid the emission of an average of 150 grams of CO2, this avoided CO2 emission is now being rewarded!
We start a pilot with hundred participants. Be quick. Register via Ring-Ring app, which can be downloaded on both Android and iOS. From this app you can register your bike kilometers and convert from today to Bicycle Bits. You get 1 Bicycle Bit per 100 bicycle kilometers, and this will be exchangeable in the second phase of this pilot — through the EnergyCoin Dashboard for 1 EnergyCoin (ENRG). Cyclists earn a reward for their choice of mobility. In urban areas, the replacement for one car-kilometer by a bicycle-kilometer yields 41 eurocents of societal benefits, as calculated by knowledge platform CROW.
Making visible the positive (climate) impact that cyclists make together is paramount. In addition, Ring-Ring and the EnergyCoin Foundation are working towards a better valuation of bicycle kilometers.
How to join a pilot
After you create an account on Ring-Ring and log in, click on a bicycle at the bottom of your screen:
After that, click on “My Settings”
Which will lead you to the EnergyCoin Dashboard by clicking on ENRG icon:
Show local climate benefits
The Bicycle Bit is the first virtual token in the collection of virtual tokens that people can earn from measurable climate actions and collect them on the EnergyCoin Dashboard. We are also currently developing a pilot together with the largest climate action in the Netherlands: Warm Sweater Day, where we record the avoided emission of greenhouse gases through realized energy savings.
Building a clean and fair economy
In our current economy the damage to the environment is not calculated. And the positive impact of daily climate-friendly choices is not visible. People are currently not being rewarded for preventing the emission of greenhouse gases and strive for clean air, and the EnergyCoin Foundation wants to change that by facilitating local networks that build a society that fits within the boundaries of the Earth.
The EnergyCoin Foundation makes available the blockchain technology, the technology that makes information transparent, unchangeable and decentralized, for recording and making the value of measurable positive actions visible and exchangeable for a sustainable world. The EnergyCoin blockchain does not use mining, as a result of which energy consumption and transaction fees are low.
The launch of the Bicycle Bits and the marketplace are the first two important steps to facilitate citizen climate initiatives and local authorities to enable the construction of local new value systems, at low cost.
