Blockchain Papers

Mario Straßberger

No abstract is available for this record.

Michel Guirguis

No abstract is available for this record.

Aditya Shinde, Vijay Mane, Nahush Ambulgekar, Zayd Ansari

As the demand for renewable energy grows, there is a need for efficient and transparent mechanisms to facilitate renewable energy trading. This research presents a novel Renewable Energy Trading Platform (RETP) that leverages blockchain technology to enable secure and decentralized energy trading. The platform utilizes distributed ledger technology to record and verify energy transactions, ensuring transparency and immutability. Smart contracts are employed to automate trade execution and settlement, eliminating the need for intermediaries and reducing transaction costs. The RETP integrates renewable energy data from various sources, such as smart meters and IoT devices, to enable accurate tracking and verification of energy production and consumption. Through the implementation of the RETP, energy producers can directly sell excess renewable energy to consumers, promoting the adoption of green energy and enhancing energy grid efficiency. A comprehensive evaluation of the platform demonstrates its efficiency, scalability, and security. The proposed RETP has the potential to revolutionize the renewable energy market by fostering peer-to-peer energy trading, empowering energy communities, and accelerating the transition to a sustainable energy future.

Jiasun Li, Hang Ren, Ioannis Bellos

No abstract is available for this record.

David Krause

No abstract is available for this record.

Xiyong Dong, Zhuhua Jiang, Seong‐Min Yoon

No abstract is available for this record.

Adela Bârã, Irina Georgescu, Simona‐Vasilica Oprea, Marian Pompiliu Cristescu

In this paper, we mainly investigate three variables from the price volatility point of view: Brent crude oil, S&P500 and Bitcoin (BTCUSD), aiming to underline the impact of price volatility. Brent crude oil accounts for two-thirds of the oil market. Its price volatility has a significant impact on environmental, transportation, mobility, economic and social aspects that affect sustainability. This paper conducts an extensive examination of the forecasting capabilities of various GARCH (Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity) models, identifying the most suitable GARCH model for estimating Value at Risk (VaR) for Brent crude oil price. The assessment of VaR for different GARCH models is carried out using Kupiec’s Probability of Failure (POF) test and Christoffersen’s test. This study leverages Brent crude oil data spanning from 2019 to 2023. Additionally, to prove the robustness of the GARCH models, we further consider the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Dubai oil prices that are the dominant in the U.S and Asian market. The investigation identifies the TGARCH(1,1) Skewed Student model as the optimal choice among 9 models considered for VaR estimation. The results show that TGARCH Skewed Student model surpasses the other models in the study, proving its superiority in forecasting Brent crude oil price volatility and facilitating VaR estimation. A VaR of 0.044 with a 95% confidence level means that there is a 95% chance that the portfolio will not lose more than 4.4% of its value. By incorporating skewness in addition to volatility asymmetry, the Skewed GARCH-type models provide a more realistic representation of the underlying return distribution. Furthermore, the most appropriate GARCH-type model for WTI crude oil is EGARCH(1,1) Skewed Student, with a VaR coverage of 0.39. The most appropriate GARCH-type model for Dubai crude oil is TGARCH(1,1) Skewed Student, with a VaR coverage of 0.17. Both WTI oil and Dubai crude oil have a coverage that exceeds 5%, implying a more conservative approach to estimating potential losses. Furthermore, the unidirectional causalities BTCUSD→BRENT and BTCUSD→S&P500 are identified. The results of the current research have practical implications for both importing and exporting countries, policy makers and investors. For companies in the oil sector, VaR informs operational decisions, such as production levels, capital expenditure and inventory management, by providing insights into market risk. Moreover, understanding the risks associated with oil aids in long-term strategic planning.

Christopher Adiguna Ginting

Ethereum 2.0 introduced several significant upgrades, one being Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559 (EIP-1559), which changed how gas price is determined. This study examines the relationship between gas price and user activity on the Ethereum protocol following EIP-1559 sampled every minute from December 1, 2023, 00:00:00 to December 15, 2023 23:59:59. This study shows a weak positive Pearson correlation between gas price and user activity with a bidirectional Granger causality between them. In other words, an increase in gas price does not decrease user activity, and vice versa. This contrasts with an earlier study before EIP-1559, which showed a moderate to strong negative Pearson correlation between gas price and user activity, as well as an only unidirectional Granger causality from gas price to user activity. The explanation asserted in that earlier study was that when gas prices were high, users waited to submit a transaction, possibly to avoid overpaying. The shift observed in this study, where increases in gas price no longer decrease user activity, shows that EIP-1559 appears to have enhanced user confidence in gas price calculations. This in turn influences their decision-making. Specifically, users are generally more assured in continuing their transactions under the new mechanism, as can be shown from the observation that the raising in gas prices does not cause user activity to decrease. On the other hand, the new observation of Granger causality in which increases in user activity slightly increases gas price is likely a result of the new gas price formula introduced by EIP-1559, which takes into account the network congestion and caps the extent of gas price adjustments. This formula introduces a predictable link between user activity dynamics and gas prices, thereby providing greater certainty for users.

Ujkan Q. Bajra, Ermir Rogova, Sefer Avdiaj

No abstract is available for this record.

Wei-Jen Liu, Wei‐Yu Chiu, Weiqi Hua

In the 21st century, transitioning to renewable energy sources is imperative, with fossil fuel reserves depleting rapidly and recognizing critical environmental issues such as climate change, air pollution, water pollution, and habitat destruction. Embracing renewable energy is not only an environmental necessity but also a strategic move with multiple benefits. By shifting to renewable energy sources and supporting their production through the acquisition of renewable energy certificates, we foster innovation and drive economic growth in the renewable energy sector. This, in turn, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, aligning with global efforts to mitigate climate change. Additionally, renewable energy certificates ensure compliance with regulations that mandate the use of renewable energy, enhancing legal adherence while promoting transparency and trust in energy sourcing. To monitor the uptake of renewable energy, governments have implemented Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as a tracking mechanism for the production and consumption of renewable energy. However, there are two main challenges to the existing REC schema: 1) The RECs have not been globally adopted due to inconsistent design; 2) The consumer privacy has not been well incorporated in the design of blockchain. In this study, we investigate the trading of RECs between suppliers and consumers using the directed acyclic graph (DAG) blockchain system and introduce a trading schema to help protect consumer information. Our results demonstrate lower transaction time by 41\% and energy consumption by 65\% compared to proof-of-stake.

Panagiotis Vionis, Theodore Kotsilieris

The energy sector is undergoing a period of technological transformation, driven by the emergence of blockchain and smart contracts. These technologies have the potential to revolutionize energy markets and significantly reduce transaction costs, improve efficiency, and increase transparency. The rising energy prices in recent years have been a cause for global concern. As the EU recorded historically high energy prices in 2022, according to the EU Council, this price rise is linked to increased energy demand following the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the acceleration of climate change. This paper aims to critically examine the current state of blockchain and smart contracts technology in the energy sector, focusing on use cases, key challenges, and potential solutions. It further explores the impact of these technologies on energy markets and their potential to contribute to a sustainable, low-carbon energy future. Finally, it examines the prospects of blockchain and smart contract technologies to transform the energy industry and the policy implications for governments and regulators.

Daniel Miliá

A lo largo de más de una década, el mercado de criptoactivos ha logrado atraer a una amplia base de usuarios a nivel mundial. Con el crecimiento de este ecosistema digital, han surgido especulaciones cada vez más frecuentes acerca del considerable consumo energético asociado y su correlación con el daño ambiental. En este contexto, planteamos la siguiente interrogante: ¿cómo se muestra el consumo energético de las principales criptomonedas en el cambio climático? Con el fin de abordar esta interrogante, se estableció como objetivo primordial examinar el consumo energético derivado del uso de estos instrumentos. Para este propósito, se llevó a cabo una revisión bibliográfica descriptiva basada en artículos científicos e informes de centros de estudios especializados que analizaron su influencia en la huella de carbono. Por último, examinamos cómo la minería de Bitcoin supera en consumo energético a naciones enteras, como Finlandia o Bélgica, mientras que Ethereum ha logrado mitigar sus emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero mediante la transición al protocolo de consenso “Proof of Stake” (prueba de participación), evidenciando así un enfoque más sostenible para el desarrollo.

Burhan Erdoğan

Bu çalışmanın amacı kripto para birimi olan Bitcoin ve küresel bir etki gücüne sahip olan BRENT petrol fiyatlarının gelişmiş ve gelişmekte olan ülkelerin borsa endeksleri üzerindeki dinamik bağlantılılığının analizini gerçekleştirmektir. Analizi gerçekleştirmek amacıyla 12.11.2017 ile 19.11.2023 tarihleri arasındaki Bitcoin, BRENT petrol, Amerika Birleşik Devletleri’nden S&P500 borsa endeksi, Fransa’dan CAC borsa endeksi, Almanya’dan DAX borsa endeksi, Japonya’dan NIKKEI225 borsa endeksi, İspanya’dan IBEX35 borsa endeksi, Türkiye’den BIST100 borsa endeksi, Meksika’dan S&PBMV borsa endeksi, Endonezya’dan IDX borsa endeksi ve Suudi Arabistan’dan TADAWUL borsa endeks değişkenlerine ait haftalık veriler TVP-VAR yöntemi ile analiz edilmiştir. Çalışma sonucunda elde edilen bulgular kriz dönemlerinin varlıklar arasındaki dinamik bağlantılık ilişkisini artırmakta olduğunu ve Bitcoin ve BRENT petrol değişkenlerinin diğer borsa endeksleri tarafından etkilendiğini ortaya koymuştur. Ayrıca incelenen gelişmiş ülke borsa endekslerinin tüm dönemler itibariyle diğer değişkenleri etkilediğini bunun yanında Suudi Arabistan borsa endeksinin de diğer gelişmekte olan ülkelere göre borsa endekslerini daha fazla etkileyen bir görünüme sahip olduğunu ortaya koymuştur.

Murray A. Rudd, Lee Bratcher, Simon Collins, David Branscum · 15 authors

In this study, we used a combination of AI-assisted analysis of social media discourse and collaboration with industry experts to delve into the key research needs associated with the Bitcoin mining industry. We identified primary threats, opportunities, and research questions related to the Bitcoin mining industry and its wider impacts, focusing on its energy use and environmental footprint. Our findings spotlight the industry’s move towards increasingly greater energy efficiency and an emerging commitment to renewable energy, highlighting its potential to contribute to the coming energy transition. We underscore the transformative potential of emerging applications in the Bitcoin mining sector, especially regarding demand response, grid flexibility, and methane mitigation. We suggest that targeted research on Bitcoin can serve policymakers, private sector decision-makers, research funding agencies, environmental scientists, and the Bitcoin industry itself. We propose that filling key information gaps could help clarify the risks and benefits of Bitcoin mining by encouraging collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and industry stakeholders and conducting research that provides baseline peer-reviewed evidence surrounding Bitcoin’s production and impacts. A collaborative approach could help mitigate the risks and realize the benefits of Bitcoin mining, including potentially positive and substantive contributions in alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Yash Ghorpade

Abstract: The problem we are facing is how to efficiently use renewable energy sources like solar and wind, which are sometimes unpredictable. Current energy systems struggle to handle this unpredictability, which can lead to wasted energy and more pollution. There is also a lack of trust and transparency in the energy market. The effective tracking and management of renewable energy present complex challenges. Traditional energy tracking systems often lack transparency, security and trust among stakeholders, hindering the realization of a fully sustainable energy ecosystem. To fix these issues, we are looking at using blockchain technology. Blockchain is like a secure and transparent digital ledger. It can help automate energy trading and make it more trustworthy. By using smart contracts, we can make sure energy transactions happen quickly and with fewer costs. We will also use data analytics and devices that connect to the internet to better predict when we will have energy and how to use it efficiently. Our solution is to create a platform for renewable energy trading using blockchain. We will use technologies like Hyperledger Fabric and Ethereum to make sure everything works securely. Smart contracts will help with automatic energy trading, and AI will help us predict when we will have energy. Devices connected to the internet will give us real-time data to manage the energy grid better. With this plan, we want to make renewable energy trading easy and help the world switch to cleaner energy sources faster

Shanglei Chai, Xichun Zhang, Mohammad Zoynul Abedin, Huizheng Chen · 6 authors

The traditional power generation rights trading (GRT) market is faced with the problems of weak interconnection of electricity‑carbon market and low security. Using smart contracts in the blockchain , the idea of establishing a weakly centralized GRT structure is proposed in this paper. The carbon emission factor was introduced to improve the GRT model, and carbon emission market is used to further stimulate the emission reduction vitality of generating units. The empirical results show that compared with the benchmark model and improved model 1, the improved GRT model proposed by us has the best emission reduction effect. The contribution of this paper is to make up for the existing research that cannot fully consider the impact of carbon peak and carbon neutralization on the GRT market, as well as the information security issues brought by big data trading on the GRT platform. This paper puts forward some policy implications for the decarbonization and green development of the electricity market advocated by the Chinese government.

Nouman Ashraf, Sachin Sharma, Sheraz Aslam, Khursheed Aurangzeb

Fossil fuel pollution has contributed to dramatic changes in the Earth’s climate, and this trend will continue as fossil fuels are burned at an ever-increasing rate. Many countries around the world are currently making efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and one of the methods is the Tradable White Certificate (TWC) mechanism. The mechanism allows organizations to reduce their energy consumption to generate energy savings certificates, and those that achieve greater energy savings can sell their certificates to those that fall short. However, there are some challenges to implementing this mechanism, such as the centralized and costly verification and control of energy savings. Moreover, the verification process is not transparent, which could lead to fraud or manipulation of the system. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a blockchain-based TWC mechanism to automatically create, verify, and audit the TWC certificates. In addition, we propose a smart-contract-based TWC trading mechanism that enables traders to trade their TWCs without exposing their private information in an untrusted environment. Evaluations show that the proposed TWC framework is scalable for 1000 TWC traders simultaneously, and optimization problem can be solved in less than 120ms. Moreover, it has been shown that Polygon Matic incurs least gas cost compared to other blockchain-based solutions.

Sanaz Chamanara, Kaveh Madani

Based on a multi-attribute assessment of the environmental impacts and challenges associated with global Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities around the globe, we call for urgent action by the scientific, policy, and advocacy communities. The worldwide BTC mining network consumed 173.42 TWh of electricity during the 2020–2021 period, bigger than the electricity consumption of most nations. The mining process emitted over 85.89 Mt of CO2eq in the same timeframe, equivalent to the emission caused by burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas-fired power plants. The environmental footprint of BTC mining is not limited to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020–2021, the global water footprint of BTC mining was about 1.65 km 3, more than the domestic water use of 300 million people in rural Sub-Saharan Africa. The land footprint of the global BTC mining network during this period was more than 1,870 square kilometers, 1.4 times the area of Los Angeles. These striking numbers highlight the heavy reliance of the BTC network on fossil fuels and natural resource-intensive energy sources, resulting in major but unmonitored and unregulated environmental footprints. To mitigate the environmental costs of BTC mining, immediate policy interventions, technological advancements, and scientific research are crucial. Proposed measures include enhanced transparency, economic and regulatory tools, developing energy-efficient alternative coins, and the adoption of greener blockchain validation protocols.

Matteo Vaccargiu, Andrea Pinna, Roberto Tonelli, Luisanna Cocco

Blockchain technology finds application in multiple sectors, including renewable energy. Numerous blockchain-based applications aim to provide support in the production, management, distribution, and consumption of green energy. The benefits offered are not only technological but also social, environmental, and economic. The purpose of this study is to examine how the application of blockchain in the energy industry may affect the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study is composed of two parts. The first part concerns the identification and analysis of the most relevant categories of blockchain applications in the energy sector and their ability to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. A knowledge base, comprising scientific articles, gray literature, and real-world applications, has been created and analyzed. With a keyword-based approach, each application was associated with one or more SDGs. In the second part, the Sustainability Awareness Framework (SuSAF) was used to examine the findings of the first part of the study and discuss them in terms of five dimensions of sustainability. Finally, potential risks associated with the use of blockchain in the energy sector are also covered. Results reveal that tracking energy production and consumption and renewable energy communities are the applications that have the most beneficial effects, and that the benefits linked to blockchain adoption go beyond the energy sector to include the environment, the economy, industry, infrastructure, smart cities, and society.

Sanaz Chamanara, S. Arman Ghaffarizadeh, Kaveh Madani

Abstract Based on a multi‐attribute assessment of the environmental impacts and challenges associated with global Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities around the globe, we call for urgent action by the scientific, policy, and advocacy communities. The worldwide BTC mining network consumed 173.42 TWh of electricity during the 2020–2021 period, bigger than the electricity consumption of most nations. The mining process emitted over 85.89 Mt of CO 2 eq in the same timeframe, equivalent to the emission caused by burning 84 billion pounds of coal or running 190 natural gas‐fired power plants. The environmental footprint of BTC mining is not limited to greenhouse gas emissions. In 2020–2021, the global water footprint of BTC mining was about 1.65 km 3 , more than the domestic water use of 300 million people in rural Sub‐Saharan Africa. The land footprint of the global BTC mining network during this period was more than 1,870 square kilometers, 1.4 times the area of Los Angeles. These striking numbers highlight the heavy reliance of the BTC network on fossil fuels and natural resource‐intensive energy sources, resulting in major but unmonitored and unregulated environmental footprints. To mitigate the environmental costs of BTC mining, immediate policy interventions, technological advancements, and scientific research are crucial. Proposed measures include enhanced transparency, economic and regulatory tools, developing energy‐efficient alternative coins, and the adoption of greener blockchain validation protocols.

Dimitrios Koutmos

This article explores the extent to which network activity can explain changes in Ethereum transaction fees. Such fees are referred to as “gas prices” within the Ethereum blockchain, and are important inputs not only for executing transactions, but also for the deployment of smart contracts within the network. Using a bootstrapped quantile regression model, it can be shown that network activity, such as the sizes of blocks or the number of transactions and contracts, can have a heterogeneous relationship with gas prices across periods of low and high gas price changes. Of all the network activity variables examined herein, the number of intraday transactions within Ethereum’s blockchain is most consistent in explaining gas fees across the full distribution of gas fee changes. From a statistical perspective, the bootstrapped quantile regression approach demonstrates that linear modeling techniques may yield but a partial view of the rich dynamics found in the full range of gas price changes’ conditional distribution. This is an important finding given that Ethereum’s blockchain has undergone fundamental economic and technological regime changes, such as the recent implementation of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1559, which aims to provide an algorithmic updating rule to estimate Ethereum’s “base fee”.

Harun Jamil, Faiza Qayyum, Naeem Iqbal, Murad Khan · 7 authors

The rapid adoption of hydrogen as an eco-friendly energy source has necessitated the development of intelligent power management systems capable of efficiently utilizing hydrogen resources. However, guaranteeing the security and integrity of hydrogen-related data has become a significant challenge. This paper proposes a pioneering approach to ensure secure hydrogen data analysis through the integration of blockchain technology, enhancing trust, transparency, and privacy in handling hydrogen-related information. By combining blockchain with intelligent power management systems, the efficient utilization of hydrogen resources becomes feasible. The utilization of smart contracts and distributed ledger technology facilitates secure data analysis, real-time monitoring, prediction, and optimization of hydrogen-based power systems. The effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach are demonstrated through comprehensive case studies and simulations. Notably, our prediction models, including ABiLSTM, ALSTM, and ARNN, consistently delivered high accuracy with MAE values of approximately 0.154, 0.151, and 0.151, respectively, enhancing the security and efficiency of hydrogen consumption forecasts. The blockchain-based solution offers enhanced security, integrity, and privacy for hydrogen data analysis, thus contributing to the advancement of clean and sustainable energy systems. Additionally, the research identifies existing challenges and outlines potential future directions for further enhancing the proposed system. This study adds to the growing body of research on blockchain applications in the energy sector, with a specific focus on secure hydrogen data analysis and intelligent power management systems.

Mingli Cui, Tiantian Feng, Haoran Wang

Blockchain technology and renewable energy links can realize the fusion of energy flow and information flow. The combination of the two has a high degree of matching, and the related research is also increasing. Although experts have expanded their research on renewable energy and blockchain, there are still restrictions and gaps in the existing research. In this paper, 920 articles from 2016 to 2023 were chosen and visualized using bibliometrics and CiteSpace software to analyze the research field's development base, collaborative groups, hot topics and evolutionary trends. Based on the foregoing research, we summarized the pertinent literature in the area of “Renewable energy & Blockchain” and thoroughly analyzed the current hot issues in depth to determine the future development direction. The findings show that, first, related research in the field increased rapidly in 2016–2023, the research topics and hotspots of “Renewable energy & Blockchain” focus on energy system optimization, clean energy technologies, circular development and renewable energy trading. Second, all subjects have a specific strength and influence contribution in the field, from the micro to the macro level. Among them, China, the United States and their universities have relatively mature research experience and research ability. Third, research gaps in blockchain-based renewable energy application, technology, and policy, as well as potential trends in energy internet, energy management, energy systems, green certificate trading, and green power trading. This study provides researchers with a theoretical foundation for gaining a thorough understanding of current research efforts and future research directions in this field.

Yongjun Lv

The pressing issues of climate change and the limited availability of non-renewable energy resources have created a growing need for sustainable energy alternatives. This study provides a comprehensive overview of the pressing need for sustainable energy solutions and the complex relationship between energy and the economy. The challenges and opportunities presented by the transition to sustainable energy sources are explored, including the need for investment in renewable energy technologies, policy changes to incentivize sustainable energy use, and the potential for job creation in the sustainable energy sector. On the other hand, it is recognized that there are considerable hurdles that need to be addressed, including the substantial initial expenses associated with establishing renewable energy systems, as well as the political and societal barriers to enacting change. The economic benefits of transitioning to sustainable energy, such as improved energy security, reduced dependence on fossil fuels, and the potential for increased economic growth, are evaluated. The complex relationship between energy and the economy is thoroughly analyzed, presenting a valuable contribution to the academic literature on sustainable energy. Furthermore, an inquiry is being made into the potential contribution of blockchain technology in advancing a sustainable energy landscape. This includes its ability to augment the effectiveness and openness of energy markets, as well as its capacity to assist in the assimilation of renewable energy resources. Hence, this research underscores the importance of transitioning to sustainable energy sources for their environmental and economic merits. The findings presented offer valuable insights to inform policy decisions and guide future research endeavors in this field. By promoting the advancement of sustainable energy technologies, this study contributes to the development of a more sustainable global economy.