Since publishing my last article Micro-Payments will change your life (Part 1) I've done a little research on Distributed Energy systems and it looks like there are many teams/companies working to develop something in this space. In particular for, any Australians here I would recommend checking out Power Ledger. It looks like a really cool project which aims to make Electricity more accessible, affordable and efficient for consumers by utilising BlockChain technology.
For those of you who don't know, South Australia is about to be hit with an almost 20% increase in the cost of electricity making it the most expensive electricity in the world! Australia has huge untapped potential for Photovoltaic Systems (read: solar) in particular but our government is still insisting that Coal is an acceptable way forward. Backbencher and former prime minister Tony Abbott was quoted recently suggesting that the federal government build a new coal fired power plant (source). I understand the immediate pressure of electricity prices on the average Australian but this is a short sighted solution.
We need to increase funding opportunities and support the growth of the renewables and alternative energy schemes industry (such as Power Ledger). We need this technology to facilitate a fair and sustainable energy market which not only benefits our environment but also our communities and consumers.
Anyway, that's what I think. Let me know what you think in the comments :)