Wired: How can blockchain enable carpooling and change the way electricity is sold?

Rage Comment : Compared to the Internet, which can reduce the cost of research and coordination, blockchain can reduce the cost of negotiating prices, signing contracts, formulating policies and executing contracts. "Anything on the Internet" can be subverted by the blockchain-driven "ledger that records everything". For example, blockchain can subvert the city's public transportation system, medical care and power generation. This article analyzes in detail the impact of blockchain on carpooling and electricity sales methods, which can reduce municipal costs and create a more livable and healthy city.

Translation: Nicole

In the near future, hundreds of thousands of smart products in the real world will be able to sense, respond, transmit and share data. Generate their own electricity and then trade autonomously. From protecting the environment to managing health, blockchain can do it. Cities and regions will be affected by this technological revolution in the long run, as blockchain can subvert public transportation systems, medical care and power generation. "Anything on the Internet" can be subverted by the blockchain-driven "ledger of everything".

The simple and ingenious protocol of blockchain allows transactions to be synchronized, anonymous, secure, peer-to-peer, timely and frictionless. How is this done? By distributing trust from powerful middlemen to large global networks, these networks can realize the value of tamper-proof public ledgers through large-scale collaboration, ingenious program code and encryption technology.

While this is the technology that drives Bitcoin and other digital currencies, its underlying mechanism has the potential to go beyond these applications and record not only digital currencies, but any record of human value, from birth to death certificates to insurance claims. Even voting can be recorded using blockchain.

The new generation of the Internet has created a new medium for information. Blockchain is a new medium for value and has proven to be a new medium that can benefit every business, institution, government and individual.

For example, how does blockchain affect the energy grid? Most urban property owners, businesses, and institutions receive electricity from utility companies at set prices. There are many ways to access locally produced renewable resources, such as solar panels. Local utilities redistribute their excess electricity at wholesale prices, and leakage is common.

But consumers, who may be just across the street from a local power station, still have to go to the utility to get the renewable resources produced by their neighbors at retail prices.

Instead, imagine a scenario where households that generate and store their own electricity can enter into peer-to-peer transactions with their neighbors or sell the excess electricity to the transmission grid at market prices. Each household can become an anonymous intermediary and automatically sign an electricity contract with the highest bidder. Blockchain technology plays a vital role in such grid transactions.

There may be tens of thousands of power stations, so the blockchain system needs to continuously track all information, including verifying each node in the network to ensure its reliability. The power generation industry is one of the many areas in the city that are being transformed by blockchain technology and the Internet of Things.

Transport is undoubtedly one of the biggest municipal expenses, and it supports healthy, liveable cities. Every mile travelled by subway or light rail requires huge man-hours, costs millions, sometimes billions of pounds, and causes huge disruption to everyday facilities. However, given that most cars sit idle in garages, driveways and on the streets, they could become a more affordable transport option for commuters. How can this excess equipment be utilised, and what role does blockchain play?

Let's imagine that in the near future, most people don't have their own cars, but can share rides. Imagine a driver who would rather take traditional public transportation or use a ride-sharing service such as Uber (not related to sharing) than register for a ride on SUber (blockchain super Uber). All available transportation in the area near the rider can be automatically issued, and the rider's network node can automatically rank according to the selection criteria, select the most qualified car and recommend it to the rider. The rider will pay for faster routes (such as high-priced toll lanes) and sign an agreement with the vehicle that meets the requirements, which is more competitive than most public transportation.

It’s not self-driving cars that spark this paradigm—that will become common sooner rather than later—but rather they are autonomous agents that earn their own money, pay for their own fuel and repairs, buy their own car insurance, and negotiate liability for accidents, all without human intervention, except perhaps to take some entity (probably a human) to court.

The Internet can reduce the cost of research and coordination, but blockchain can reduce the cost of negotiating prices, signing contracts, making policies, and enforcing contracts. We can negotiate the best transaction price and get promised delivery from other entities, including driverless taxis. Blockchain technology will not only subvert Uber's business model, but also allow us to rethink the planning of cities.