Energy Communities: How private citizens are saving the planet

The future of sustainable energy will be driven by energy communities — i.e., the private generation of energy that is based on a 3D model of decarbonization, digitization, and decentralization. As we transition from passive consumers to prosumers (who both produce and consume goods and services), smart contracts will play an invaluable role in protecting our interests and safeguarding our data.

Decarbonization, Digitization, and Decentralization

From Palaeolithic cave dwellers to modern-day city planners, humankind has a long history of shaping the natural environment to suit our needs, purposes, and values. While this is typically framed in the name of “development” or “social evolution,” it has come at a tremendous cost to the environment. So much so, in fact, that we can no longer stand by in the face of this destruction, regard it as a problem for the future, or consider passivity as an amoral, inconsequential act.

Based on the latest scientific evidence, policymakers and intergovernmental organizations have failed to achieve their environmental targets in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Human activities (particularly the burning of fossil fuels for energy and electricity) have fundamentally increased the concentration of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere and have warmed the planet to the point where polar ice caps are melting at unprecedented rates. Over the past 30 years alone, the oldest and thickest…