Energy being the basic necessity of humankind in this era forms a daily part of our lives. Energy saving has been an elusive quest for many of us living in urban developed cities. We need energy for everything in our household and it is one of the earmarks of modern living and convenience. We use energy for everything in the home and in the office and basically to perform daily tasks.

Now with this excessive use comes a responsibility of conserving it as well. For our future generations and off-course for the planet. This is where blockchain and IOT comes in, providing most efficient solutions for such issues.

Blockchain originally developed to record cryptocurrency transactions, now is being adapted for use in the energy market. Blockchain is an incorruptible digital ledger that conducts and records transactions through a peer-to-peer network. The lack of centralization in blockchain leaves it as ideal for eliminating the middlemen of electricity suppliers. It reduces energy inequality and inefficiency and empowers consumers to buy and sell energy from other consumers directly.

Pairing the distributed ledger technology of blockchain with the everyday devices that we use to receive and convey information, now commonly referred to as the Internet of Things (IOT), stands to have a profound impact on energy systems. With the correct applications, devices can autonomously buy and sell energy at the optimal times, optimize energy system settings in a real-time context and monitor and analyze performance of energy-consuming devices.

These technologies are beginning to be used for groundbreaking projects, such as the Brooklyn Microgrid. The project involves a community-powered microgrid whose owners buy and sell power to each other via blockchain technology. The success of projects like this ensure that they will be implemented on a wider scale.