立即打开
你用的电是否是绿色能源?区块链技术告诉你

你用的电是否是绿色能源?区块链技术告诉你

DAVID Z. MORRIS 2020-03-20
理论上,使用这一科技可以取得消费者的信任,因为该技术是防篡改的。

如果你担心全球气候变暖,通常可以联络电力公司,要求改用可再生能源,比如风电和水电,但是,你又怎么能知道,付钱买来的电,到底来源哪里呢?

基本上,消费者没有别的什么信息渠道,对于电力来源而言,第三方供应者说是什么,消费者就只能相信什么。

不过,有一家电力公司,法国的能源企业Engie集团,正试图赢得更多的用户信任。Engie通过旗下的TEO子公司,开展了一项独特的科技项目,他们采用了和电力行业无甚瓜葛的数字货币来追踪可再生能源,并安全记录信息,防止数据被操控。

理论上,使用这一科技的公司可以取得消费者的信任,因为该技术是防篡改的,从源头上就记录了每兆瓦电的信息。如果一家公司声称所发的电来自太阳能,消费者可以查到这是否属实,还能搜到能源利用方面的更多信息。

“提供的信息可以细化到每小时,”TEO项目主管蒂埃里·马修说,“如果你仅仅只是每月一次了解一下能源的真实影响,那就很难真正掌控,很难改变现状。”

从虚拟货币到真实世界

能源巨头Engie在70个国家有着17万员工,它所使用的科技来自法国初创企业Ledger。这家初创公司的主要业务,是为比特币和其他虚拟货币创建安全的存储空间,不过最近其业务延伸到了互联网连接设备的安全性方面,他们还为之成立了一个新项目Ledger Origin。

与TEO-Engie结成业务伙伴关系,是Ledger Origin进入新领域的第一步,他们在2017年时启动合作项目,在包括风力在内的可再生能源设备上安装反篡改追踪设备,让能源生产的数据记录在区块链上,比特币用的也是同一个底层数据库。

Engie已经在其法国和巴西的能源设备上安装了数十台Ledger装置,并计划在2020年初引入美国。公司希望,到2020年底时,能把1000个能源来源连接入系统,2023年更是扩大到10万个。

两家公司合作中的资金内容未被公布。

除了要增加人们对可再生能源的信任,这个项目对区块链也是一次重大考验。自2017年以来,区块链的拥趸们一直宣称,区块链技术潜力巨大,可以在任何领域,如健康纪录或股票交易等各方面提高可信度和透明度。

不过到目前为止,区块链的表现并不如人们所愿。一个关键的问题是,虽然区块链技术可以安全记录数据,但没有多少人真正在乎这些数据到底靠不靠谱。

Ledger的首席执行官帕斯卡尔·高赛尔说得更直白:“区块链很安全——但是,进去的是狗屎,出来的也是狗屎。”

为解决这个问题,Ledger使用了类似于信用卡芯片的硬件,这个硬件合成了现有的计量设备,可以从源头上防止数据更改。“没人能篡改它,”高赛尔说,“如果你触碰了(芯片),数据就清空了。”

安装在一台能源追踪设备上的Ledger安全硬件。

收集后的数据,在传输到储存设备之前,会进行加密,防止任何人偷取信息篡改。这一技术,与Ledger的虚拟货币钱包技术密切相关,该钱包会储存私人密码,以保护用户的数字货币。

然后,能源数据会被传输并记录到能源网链上,这是一个2019年启用的开源区块链数据库,由能源智库落基山研究所(RMI)主导开发,支持该项目的还有东京电力公司(Tepco)和英国森特理克电力公司(Centrica)。如其他区块链系统一样,能源网链有多家公司的参与,也是为了增加录入数据的可信度。

TEO的马修认为,这种额外的安全保障,可以帮助更好地销售Engie可再生能源。他说,公司的长期目标,是向消费者兜售区块链认证能源的价值,但初期而言,公司首先会瞄准有可持续项目的大公司,比如亚马逊和谷歌。

一些公司比另一些更容易接纳区块链和可再生能源。许多公司并非直接购买可再生能源,而是购买所谓的可再生能源信用额度——这是一些体现公司绿色能源环保优势的证书。

已经有多家机构可以对可再生能源信用额度进行认证,在美国,证书系统已经使用了复杂的电子追踪技术。

瑞秋·特拉达说,这种做法从根本上杜绝了在美国的欺诈行为,特拉达是专注可再生能源的非营利机构“资源解决方案中心”(Center for Resource Solutions)的科技主管。

但其它认证系统还是有缺陷的。比如,一家欧洲的证书组织最近发现,被称为“原产地保证”(GOs)的绿色能源证明,被错误地颁发给了意大利三家燃气发电厂。这种机构性的问题,TEO的系统没法解决,但是,科技带来的透明度,可以减少对第三方能源监管机构及其新能源报告的依赖。

特拉达认为,当没有现成的和可信的认证系统时,区块链是一个可行的选项,部分原因是其操作简单,减少了对第三方监管者的依赖,比如,能源网链就与泰国国家石油公司(PTT)合作,为东南亚地区颁发基于区块链的可再生能源信用额度。

除了与Engie的合作,Ledger Origin还与环保服务公司Veolia合作,为市政系统安装难以篡改的水质传感器,这个安全项目不但可以防止环境污染,还可以防止有人插手水供应。

“这很关键,”Ledger Origin主管伯兰特·乔马德说,“你得确保不让恐怖分子发送假数据。”(财富中文网)

译者:宣峰

责编:雨晨

如果你担心全球气候变暖,通常可以联络电力公司,要求改用可再生能源,比如风电和水电,但是,你又怎么能知道,付钱买来的电,到底来源哪里呢?

基本上,消费者没有别的什么信息渠道,对于电力来源而言,第三方供应者说是什么,消费者就只能相信什么。

不过,有一家电力公司,法国的能源企业Engie集团,正试图赢得更多的用户信任。Engie通过旗下的TEO子公司,开展了一项独特的科技项目,他们采用了和电力行业无甚瓜葛的数字货币来追踪可再生能源,并安全记录信息,防止数据被操控。

理论上,使用这一科技的公司可以取得消费者的信任,因为该技术是防篡改的,从源头上就记录了每兆瓦电的信息。如果一家公司声称所发的电来自太阳能,消费者可以查到这是否属实,还能搜到能源利用方面的更多信息。

“提供的信息可以细化到每小时,”TEO项目主管蒂埃里·马修说,“如果你仅仅只是每月一次了解一下能源的真实影响,那就很难真正掌控,很难改变现状。”

从虚拟货币到真实世界

能源巨头Engie在70个国家有着17万员工,它所使用的科技来自法国初创企业Ledger。这家初创公司的主要业务,是为比特币和其他虚拟货币创建安全的存储空间,不过最近其业务延伸到了互联网连接设备的安全性方面,他们还为之成立了一个新项目Ledger Origin。

与TEO-Engie结成业务伙伴关系,是Ledger Origin进入新领域的第一步,他们在2017年时启动合作项目,在包括风力在内的可再生能源设备上安装反篡改追踪设备,让能源生产的数据记录在区块链上,比特币用的也是同一个底层数据库。

Engie已经在其法国和巴西的能源设备上安装了数十台Ledger装置,并计划在2020年初引入美国。公司希望,到2020年底时,能把1000个能源来源连接入系统,2023年更是扩大到10万个。

两家公司合作中的资金内容未被公布。

除了要增加人们对可再生能源的信任,这个项目对区块链也是一次重大考验。自2017年以来,区块链的拥趸们一直宣称,区块链技术潜力巨大,可以在任何领域,如健康纪录或股票交易等各方面提高可信度和透明度。

不过到目前为止,区块链的表现并不如人们所愿。一个关键的问题是,虽然区块链技术可以安全记录数据,但没有多少人真正在乎这些数据到底靠不靠谱。

Ledger的首席执行官帕斯卡尔·高赛尔说得更直白:“区块链很安全——但是,进去的是狗屎,出来的也是狗屎。”

为解决这个问题,Ledger使用了类似于信用卡芯片的硬件,这个硬件合成了现有的计量设备,可以从源头上防止数据更改。“没人能篡改它,”高赛尔说,“如果你触碰了(芯片),数据就清空了。”

收集后的数据,在传输到储存设备之前,会进行加密,防止任何人偷取信息篡改。这一技术,与Ledger的虚拟货币钱包技术密切相关,该钱包会储存私人密码,以保护用户的数字货币。

然后,能源数据会被传输并记录到能源网链上,这是一个2019年启用的开源区块链数据库,由能源智库落基山研究所(RMI)主导开发,支持该项目的还有东京电力公司(Tepco)和英国森特理克电力公司(Centrica)。如其他区块链系统一样,能源网链有多家公司的参与,也是为了增加录入数据的可信度。

TEO的马修认为,这种额外的安全保障,可以帮助更好地销售Engie可再生能源。他说,公司的长期目标,是向消费者兜售区块链认证能源的价值,但初期而言,公司首先会瞄准有可持续项目的大公司,比如亚马逊和谷歌。

一些公司比另一些更容易接纳区块链和可再生能源。许多公司并非直接购买可再生能源,而是购买所谓的可再生能源信用额度——这是一些体现公司绿色能源环保优势的证书。

已经有多家机构可以对可再生能源信用额度进行认证,在美国,证书系统已经使用了复杂的电子追踪技术。

瑞秋·特拉达说,这种做法从根本上杜绝了在美国的欺诈行为,特拉达是专注可再生能源的非营利机构“资源解决方案中心”(Center for Resource Solutions)的科技主管。

但其它认证系统还是有缺陷的。比如,一家欧洲的证书组织最近发现,被称为“原产地保证”(GOs)的绿色能源证明,被错误地颁发给了意大利三家燃气发电厂。这种机构性的问题,TEO的系统没法解决,但是,科技带来的透明度,可以减少对第三方能源监管机构及其新能源报告的依赖。

特拉达认为,当没有现成的和可信的认证系统时,区块链是一个可行的选项,部分原因是其操作简单,减少了对第三方监管者的依赖,比如,能源网链就与泰国国家石油公司(PTT)合作,为东南亚地区颁发基于区块链的可再生能源信用额度。

除了与Engie的合作,Ledger Origin还与环保服务公司Veolia合作,为市政系统安装难以篡改的水质传感器,这个安全项目不但可以防止环境污染,还可以防止有人插手水供应。

“这很关键,”Ledger Origin主管伯兰特·乔马德说,“你得确保不让恐怖分子发送假数据。”(财富中文网)

译者:宣峰

责编:雨晨

People who worry about global warming can usually contact their power company to switch their home electricity supplies to renewable sources such as windmills or hydropower. But how do they know they're getting what they pay for?

In general, consumers have few options except to trust the limited information that third-party energy suppliers disclose about their power sources.

However, one utility, France-based Engie, is trying to create more trust. Through a subsidiary known as TEO, Engie is rolling out a program that relies on technology borrowed from an unlikely niche—cryptocurrency—to track its renewable energy sources and securely record that information so that it can't be manipulated.

In theory, customers will be reassured by the company using technology that is said to be tamper-proof to log every megawatt produced at its source. If a company says it generates power from solar energy, customers will be able to see if that's the case along with more detailed information about their energy use.

“You can bring the information to very small granularity, down to the hour," says Thierry Mathieu, head of the TEO project. "If you are aware of the real impact of your energy only once a month, it’s difficult to really take control and start changing things.”

From virtual currency to the real world

The technology being used by Engie, a giant utility with 170,000 employees in 70 countries, comes from French startup Ledger. That company's main business is creating secure storage for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, but it has recently expanded into security for Internet-connected devices, through a new unit called Ledger Origin.

The TEO-Engie partnership was Ledger Origin's first step into the new field, with development beginning in 2017. TEO and Ledger are installing tamper-resistant tracking devices on Engie's renewable energy sources, including windmills, so data about their energy production can be recorded to a blockchain—the same kind of database that underlies Bitcoin.

Engie has installed dozens of Ledger's devices on its equipment in France and Brazil, and plans to bring the equipment to the U.S. by early 2020. By the end of 2020, the company hopes to have connected 1,000 energy sources to the system, and 100,000 by 2023.

Financial terms of the agreement between the two companies have not been disclosed.

In addition to trying to increase trust in renewable energy, the project is a significant test for blockchain. Since 2017, blockchain supporters have touted the technology's potential for improving trust and transparency in everything from health records to stock trading.

So far, however, blockchain has largely failed to deliver on that promise. A key problem is that there have been few attempts to protect the reliability of the data that the technology records.

Or, as Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier puts it more bluntly: “Blockchain is secure – but shit in, shit out.”

Ledger tries to solve that problem by using hardware that is similar to what’s used in chip-and-pin credit card systems. The hardware, integrated with existing metering equipment, is supposed to prevent altering data at the source. “Nobody can tamper with it,” says Gauthier. “If you touch the [chip], it’s wiped out.”

Data is also encrypted where it's gathered before being transmitted for storage, preventing it from being altered by anyone who intercepts it. This is closely related to the technology in Ledger's cryptocurrency wallets, which store private codes to protect access to a user's digital currency.

That energy data is then transmitted and recorded on the Energy Web Chain, an open-source blockchain database deployed in 2019 and led by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), an energy think-tank. Other supporters of that project include Tokyo Electric (Tepco) and Centrica, a British utility. As with other blockchain systems, the participation of multiple parties in Energy Web Chain is intended to increase the trustworthiness of data recorded to it.

Mathieu, from TEO, believes the extra security will help Engie sell renewable energy. Though the long-term goal is to sell consumers on the value of blockchain-verified energy, he says the company will initially try to target large corporations that have sustainability programs, such Amazon and Google.

Selling companies on the advantages of blockchain and renewables may be easier in some places than others. Rather than buying renewables directly, many corporations purchase what are known as renewable energy credits—certificates that represent the environmental benefit of a unit of green power.

Various organizations already exist to certify the reliability of renewable energy credits. And in the U.S., certification systems already use sophisticated electronic tracking.

This has essentially eliminated fraud in the U.S., according to Rachael Terada, technical director of the Center for Resource Solutions, a nonprofit focused on renewable energy.

But flaws remain in other systems. For instance, one European certification organization recently found that similar green-energy certificates known as Guarantees of Origin (GOs) had been mistakenly created for power from three gas-fired plants in Italy. While systems like TEO's can't fix such institutional problems, tech-driven transparency could reduce reliance on third-party organizations that monitor energy companies and their reporting about renewables.

Terada says blockchain could be a viable alternative where there are no established and trustworthy systems, in part because it may be easier and less reliant on third-party monitors. Energy Web Chain, for instance, has partnered with a Thai conglomerate, PTT, to issue blockchain-based renewable energy credits for Southeast Asia.

In addition to its project with Engie, Ledger Origin is also working with the environmental-services firm Veolia to install water quality sensors for municipal systems that are difficult to tamper with. This is a safeguard against not just environmental contamination, but active attempts to interfere with water supplies.

“This is very critical,” says Bertrand Jomard, head of Ledger Origin. “You want to make sure a terrorist isn’t sending false data.”

热读文章
热门视频
扫描二维码下载财富APP