Peer Energy

Peer Energy allows users to obtain cheaper, decentralized, local energy, while making a high percent of revenue. Monetarily backed, the crypto currency can be traded.

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Inspiration

The need for a decentralized and a more resilient power grid is rising and it is clear that we need to change to renewable energy steadfast. One issue with the current energy system is its centralization nd lack of transparency leads to a number of issues during climate disaster and leaves the door open for company price hikes and leaves people vulnerable to power outages.

The hope to make our solution inclusive and accessible to users with no blockchain knowledge so they can benefit from and fully understand its perks.

What it does

Peer Energy allows users to obtain cheaper, decentralized, local energy, while giving individuals the chance to make a high percent of revenue. Monetarily backed, the crypto currency can be traded.

Peer Energy allows user to trade energy using a blockchain based business network, which allows for more transparency through smart contracts and easier tracking of energy source. With more development, individuals with a solar panel in their backyard would be able to link their energy using the grid that already exists, and buyers on the same local grid would be able to select sources near them for a flat price and purchase Powercoins, a cryptocurrency representation of the energy trade.

We've built the backend—the blockchain network—and the frontend, the user interface.

In the future, through partnerships with charities and businesses, users can use Powercoins to invest back in local green energy innovation.

How we built it

We built it by...

  • We attempted to build the network using Kaleido running on an Azure instance to handle the blockchain business network
  • We attempted using a REST API to query the network
  • Building a Hyperledger framework for a business network on a Google Cloud virtual machine

Challenges we ran into

  • Generating the API key—both Hyperledger and Kaleido had documentation to access the REST API, but we ran into problems generating the contract for both
  • Connecting to the domain

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Correctly connecting to the domain
  • Working on multiple projects at once
  • Collaborating through different time zones (4 of them!)
  • Building our first blockchain network

What we learned

  • It is helpful to use frames on Figma
  • How to use Google Cloud's virtual machines to run a blockchain playgrounds
  • The many frameworks available for a blockchain network, and the concept of ledgers and transactions
  • The difference between a business network and other networks, like Ethereum

What's next for Peer Energy

  • Additional visuals to help users understand the flow of their coins and energy
  • Debugging the API and connecting it to the user interface, so users can interact at the push of a button and record transactions
  • Adding a visualization space so users can track energy metrics by querying transactions
  • Testing with hardware, to simulate the physical layer (e.g. energy meters connected to the internet)

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