By Lauren C. Williams | ThinkProgress
A new digital currency that rewards solar panel users could not only encourage more people to switch to solar energy but provide a new, more stable model for future alternative currencies.
SolarCoin debuted last month and builds on the same technology as Bitcoin — the popular cryptocurrency most notable for attracting an online criminal element. Like Bitcoin’s decentralized model, anyone can get SolarCoins by buying them via Twitter or helping create digital coins through mining. What separates the two is that instead of relying on mining, which involves solving complex math puzzles, SolarCoins are incentives for homeowners who use solar panels.
Consumers earn SolarCoins just by using the solar panels installed on their home or business. SolarCoin checks solar homeowners’ meters to verify that they are producing solar energy and rewards them with coins. That passive approach, where consumers can simply earn money just by doing something they believe in, could be what makes the new currency more sustainable than other alternative currencies.
Regardless of whether it succeeds, SolarCoin’s model of rewarding consumers for their actions could prove more advantageous for consumers and businesses in the future. Because it’s based on a renewable resource — the sun — rather than the work output from Bitcoin’s algorithm-cracking computer miners or traditional gold-backed currency.
