IOTA and EnergieKnip drive energy efficiency in the Netherlands

Dutch-based BlockchainLab Drenthe has introduced large-scale real-world adoption of the IOTA blockchain, IOTA (MIOTA/USD) wrote on their blog. EnergieKnip, created by Drenthe, is a local currency used to transfer data on environmentally friendly measures in local homes and reward homeowners for it.

Tokens help fight climate crisis

Could a local token-based currency help fight the climate crisis? BlockchainLab Drenthe is determined to find out through EnergieKnip, which they developed for the Dutch municipality of Emmen using IOTA technology.

Launched this month and distributed to 48,575 homes over four weeks, EnergieKnip is the first local token currency developed using IOTA and a key example of the latter’s potential.

What does EnergieKnip do?

EnergieKnip rewards residents of Emmen with digital tokens for sharing data on energy-saving measures they apply at home. They can use them to buy energy-saving devices in local stores.

BlockchainLab Drenthe’s goals are to educate citizens about energy issues, increase demand for energy-saving devices, encourage them to install devices in their homes to reduce the overall national energy consumption, and collect anonymized information about energy use in the area.

IOTA reduces costs and facilitates transactions

BlockchainLab Drenthe partnered with IOTA as a foundation for its token currency because IOTA reduces the administrative cost of setting up a local coin, prevents fraud thanks to its transparent structure, and facilitates transactions.

Adri Wischmann, cofounder of BlockchainLab Drenthe, said:

We are doing a sustainability project with blockchain. Using a protocol with an enormous energy footprint would be very counterproductive (and unethical). The energy efficiency, speed and the fact that it is feeless made IOTA easily the weapon of choice to tackle this challenge. This is a great chance to show people with all kinds of negative presumptions about blockchain (large energy footprint, slow, expensive) that there are very good alternatives to work with.

How it works

The people in Emmen answer questions about energy-saving behavior and measures in their households via an app and receive EnergieKnip coins or points for every piece of information uploaded onto the app and sent to the municipality of Emmen.

The points or coins are sent to the wallet and used to buy energy-saving devices from local retailers. Devices include radiator foil, LED lighting, and thermostats among others.

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