Blockchain in energy efficiency: Potential applications and benefits

Blockchain technology is ready to disrupt nearly every industry and business model, and the energy sector is no exception. Energy businesses across the world have already started exploring the use of blockchain technology in large-scale energy trading systems, peer-to-peer energy trading, project financing, supply chain tracking, and asset management among other applications. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) recently started revolutionizing the energy landscape, and now blockchain technology is providing an additional opportunity to make the energy system more intelligent, efficient, transparent, and secure in the longer term. The idea of this paper is to examine more closely the use of blockchain technology for its possible application in the energy efficiency industry and to determine how it could make energy efficiency markets more secure and transparent in the longer term. This paper examines in detail the key benefits and implications of using blockchain in the energy efficiency sector through the presentation and discussion of two case studies as possible blockchain applications—(i) the UK Energy Company Obligation scheme and (ii) the Italian White Certificate Scheme. We have presented how the key issues around trading energy efficiency savings—correctly estimating the savings, data transparency among stakeholders, and inefficient administrative processes—can be solved through the application of a blockchain-based smart contract system. Finally, this paper presents an implementation of a smart contract for trading of energy-saving certificates achieved via execution of smart contract transactions on the Ethereum blockchain.