Blockchain is not invincible

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SINGAPORE – (BUSINESS WIRE) – 12 August 2018 – No one has ever said that changing the world is a simple matter, and no one should ever think this way. If you think that changing the world is so simple, then you do not know the complexity of the problem at all.

Over the past few decades, more than a trillion US dollars have been spent trying to shift the world energy structure towards using more renewable energy. But when we look at where we are in terms of the adaptation of renewable energy, we realize foolishly that renewable energy represents only the 1% of the primary energy we consume today. Why is there so little renewable energy in our daily life? Are we short of renewable energy generators like wind turbines or photovoltaic panels? The answer is a very obvious no. Why can not we use more renewable energy after spending so much money? What can we change so that we can make significant progress in making renewables our primary sources of energy?

If we look at the wholesale electricity market in the United States, the wholesale price for every megawatt-hour electricity is about $ 21 ~ $ 23, but the cost of production of the peak gas-fired power plants that deal with peak electricity consumption is $ 165 ~ $ 212 per megawatt hour. The peak period of electricity is from 4:30 in the afternoon to 8:30 in the evening – an interval of 4 hours. There are a total of six four-hour intervals, or blocks, in each day. If we divide the cost of the production cost of the rush hour to all six blocks, the unit price will have exceeded $ 27.5 per megawatt hour. Why then the wholesale price is only $ 21-23? The reason is simple: government subsidies, tax rebates and carbon taxes help reduce prices during off-peak time blocks. If these subsidies are eliminated or significantly reduced, almost all wind farms and solar power plants lose money. In other words, without government subsidies, it is unlikely that anybody will invest in these large renewable energy plants that lose money, regardless of whether they support renewable energy or not.

So, what's going on in the market for so many energy blockchain projects? Only BlockChain makes renewable energy profitable? Using BlockChain for funding would solve the supply and demand difficulties that prevent renewable energy from becoming our main source of energy? Or, these energy blockchain projects only try to solve some minor problems in the energy sector, so is not there a more complete consideration of their architecture? Whatever they have in mind, they should never forget what they want to achieve, even when they encounter problems they can not solve due to poor architecture.

At ELONCITY, we firmly believe that most people support renewable energy. This support is however very conditional. If cleaner energy is cheaper than ordinary energy, people will certainly use more renewable energy and make our sky blue. However, as the financial crisis has significantly reduced people's disposable income, expecting them to spend more to support the development of renewable energy is very unrealistic. The Foundation firmly believes that the only way to achieve massively renewable energy is to make it accessible, if not free. We therefore believe that simply using BlockChain for the crowdfund of photovoltaic or wind power plants is absolutely wrong. This is by no means a decentralization, nor does it address the fundamental contradiction of renewable energies.

While blockchain technology can effectively change our electrical infrastructure, in particular by replacing the existing electrical infrastructure with millions of self-sufficient microgrids, transparent transactions are however only part of the solution. We must carefully consider how energy flows flow and where exchange can take place. We also need to find ways to encourage residents to actively participate in energy trading and to increase the benefits of decentralized energy infrastructure, both to reduce the cost of locally produced renewable energy and to change electrical applications so that they can function better with energy. renewable locally produced. The decentralized power infrastructure needs the support of people and communities. It needs to resolve regulatory barriers (especially the franchise law) and obtain low-interest loans from the financial sector to accelerate the return on investment of distributed energy resources. Otherwise, locally produced renewable energy can not be used very effectively.

We believe that if we can reduce the gap between community support, financial solutions, technology and local government support, we will be able to change our existing power plants and make renewable energy our main source of energy.

View the source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180812005032/en/

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