Application of blockchain technology in energy-efficiency sector investments in emerging markets

Abstract

Since the blockchain technology was first introduced, there have been increased efforts in recent years that aim to find various fields of application in different sectors and industries. One of the sectors that shows promising potential for adoption of blockchain technology is the energy sector. In specific, there is a clear need for investments in innovation to release the full potential of renewable energy and energy efficiency sector in general. That is even more emphasized in emerging markets, where additional specific barriers need to be addressed. Investments in renewable energy and especially energy efficiency measures in those markets are still perceived as risky, mostly due to the low technological awareness and lack of a clear legal framework, all contributing to increased risk for the investors. The blockchain technology has a promising perspective to address some of these challenges, and to contribute to creating local decentralized systems that support energy efficiency investments. In the past years, blockchain or distributed ledger technology has emerged as an underlying technology to develop and deploy decentralized applications in various industries. The value proposition builds on its possibility to record transactions in a secure peerto-peer network. Although there has been a lot of hype created mostly around digital currencies, the blockchain technology is showing a promising potential to transform traditional business models. This thesis offers a systematic overview to identify what the state of the art applications are already available in the energy sector. The research will looks into, and proposes the optimal use cases in the field of energy efficiency investments in emerging markets, with a focused evaluation of elements that can be successfully transferred to the energy efficiency market applications.