Hold on to your hats people, because there is a new coin on the rise and it is called “Solarcoin”. This new coin is, just like all others, based on Bitcoin technology. People can get the coins through mining, day trading on exchanges. In addition to these possibilities people can earn Solarcoins as a reward for generating solar energy. This is a great concept for people who do have renewable energies.
Ok, it looks nice and sounds like a good idea, but how does it work? According to the developers, people who have solar panels on their house will receive solar renewable energy certificates from their energy company for generating the surplus electricity back into the grid. These certificates are already traded for cash. So you can trade your certificates to SolarCoin‘s organisers and you’ll receive one coin for one certificate. The developers hope to start distribution in a matter of weeks.
The hopes of the SolarCoin Foundation’s spokesman Nick Gogerty says “The initiative is aiming for $20 to $30 per SolarCoin and would also support the green initiative”. If Solarcoin is a good solid product, it could effectively providing solar panel owners with a crowd funded feed-in tariff and encourage more people to take part.
According to Nick Gogerty,”Bitcoin has been wasting energy in the past because of mining coins”, but Gogerty says that “SolarCoin is 50 times more energy-efficient because its algorithm allows the total number of coins to be mined faster – and that’s before factoring in the energy boost from new solar panels”. Some of us could question this statement because mining will take a certain amount of energy and can’t be lowered. Yes, of course, if you deduce the energy that has been produced by the certificates on the output of the computers mining. But in general you can’t change your energy output when mining.
Though some reactions that Mr. Gogerty put forth are a bit harder to believe : “If SolarCoin succeeds, it could be applied to other environmental projects, such as conserving measures of our planet “. Yes, ok,, if it is sound and if it is reliable, it could be promising. It is quite a leap for people to put their trust is some abstract coin that isn’t out yet, and thus unproven, and then suddenly jumping to a conclusion that “it could save the planet”.
Does this coin have some potential? Yes it does, but seeing how the output of solar power is extremely different from the kind of solar panel, who manufactured it and where etc. it can be argued that a less powerful solar panels. How the developers would determine this remains a big question mark.
It can be good news for the companies who have massive solar panels on their roofs, partly or fully funded by government. That way companies can potentially make some extra profits provided it would be reliable.
Whether Solarcoin will be a good coin, remains to be seen, because they aren’t available yet. Of course, people should be wary, but still, it looks like a nice initiative. It is a coin to watch out for.
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