Blockchain Applications for Sustainable Energy

为了应对全球气候变化带来的挑战，我们的能源基础设施减少碳足迹并提高效率至关重要。基于我在系统和网络领域30多年的工作经验，自2010年以来，我和我的40多名学生组成的团队一直在参与一个广泛的研究计划，利用信息系统和科学来提高能源系统的效率并减少碳足迹。我们的愿景是与相关学科的研究人员以及工业合作伙伴合作，使用基于计算机科学的创新来设计、实施和评估能源、清洁交通和配电系统。 在过去的六年里，我和我的团队取得了实质性的进展。在这一成功的基础上，我寻求资金，以利用分布式系统的最新发展，实现可持续发展的目标。具体地说，在过去几年中，分布式分类账技术，最突出的是区块链，因其能够以最低的交易费实现快速、不可变、安全、透明、高度可用、高度自动化和高度分散的系统的潜力而被公认为“游戏规则改变者”。人们普遍认为，这些技术将导致能源系统的根本性变化，使即使是小型能源发电商也有可能在“互动式能源系统”的背景下与传统公用事业公司平等竞争。 尽管一些有远见卓识的人建议使用区块链来支持能源转换，但到目前为止，对可伸缩性、数据隐私和物理资产与其数字表示之间的防篡改链接的支持有限。因此，我的团队的长期目标是解决这些缺点。为了支持这一长期目标，在详细分析区块链的最佳使用案例的基础上，我的短期研究目标是调查区块链作为可再生能源原产地证书基础的使用；交易型能源电网中的对等能源和灵活性交易；以及虚拟发电厂中的交易型存储操作。这项研究将推动区块链在能源系统中的使用，使包括公用事业公司、能源消费者和能源监管机构在内的利益相关者受益。它还将使人们更深入地理解区块链应该如何整合到遗留系统中，这是一个广泛感兴趣的话题。 基于区块链的经济预计将在未来几年以巨大的速度增长，潜在地解决世界经济的很大一部分问题。我的工作将为这一领域的学生提供极具市场价值的技能，帮助为加拿大工业提供劳动力，使其具有全球竞争力。因此，我的工作不仅将为能源系统和计算机科学领域做出贡献，还将培训学生掌握加拿大和世界将非常需要的尖端计算机科学技术。

To meet the challenge posed by global climate change, it is critical that our energy infrastructure reduce its carbon footprint and become more efficient. Based on my 30+ years of work in the area of systems and networking, since 2010, my team of more than 40 students and I have been engaged in a broad research program to use information systems and science to increase the efficiency and reduce the carbon footprint of energy systems. Our vision is to use computer science-based innovations to design, implement, and evaluate energy, clean-transportation, and electricity distribution systems, working with researchers in related disciplines, as well as with partners in industry. In the last six years, my team and I have achieved substantial progress. Building on this success, I seek funding to harness the latest developments in distributed systems to the goal of sustainability. Specifically, in the past few years, distributed ledger technologies, most prominently the blockchain, have been recognized as `game changers' for their potential to enable fast, immutable, secure, transparent, highly-available, highly-automated, and highly-decentralized systems with minimal transaction fees. It is widely believed that these technologies will cause fundamental changes to energy systems, making it possible for even small energy generators to compete on an equal footing with traditional utilities in the context of `transactive energy systems.' Although some visionaries have suggested using blockchains to support the energy transition, to date, there has been limited support for scalability, data privacy, and tamper-proof linking of physical assets to their digital representations. Hence, my team's long-term goal is to address these shortcomings. In support of this long-term goal, based on the detailed analysis of the best use cases for blockchains, my short-term research objectives are to investigate the use blockchains as the basis for renewable energy certificates of origin; peer-to-peer energy and flexibility trading in transactive energy grids; and transactive storage operation in virtual power plants. This research would advance the use of blockchains in energy systems, benefiting stakeholders including utilities, energy consumers, and energy regulators. It would also lead to a deeper understanding of how blockchains should be integrated into legacy systems, a topic of broad interest. The blockchain-based economy is expected to grow at an enormous pace in the next few years, potentially addressing a significant fraction of the world economy. My work will provide highly-marketable skills for students in this area, helping to supply the workforce for Canadian industries to become globally competitive. Thus, my work will not only make contributions to the field of energy systems and computer science, but also train students in cutting-edge computer science technologies that will be in great demand in Canada and the world.