“SMART” terrains towards Sustainability
Recently, there has been an agitation on a series of Greek islands. Residents, State and Companies are trying to transform the outdated and malfunctioning energy model of those islands to drive Europe’s transition into a sustainable, low-carbon and inclusive economy. SocialPolis Coin aspires to become a trustworthy and transparent alternative for financing such projects with the vision to transform whole terrains into Blockchain Areas.
Greece has a large number of islands ranging from 1.200 to 6.000, depending on the minimum size taken into account each time. However, the number of inhabited islands varies from 166 to 2247, depending on the source. Elaborating more on the Hellenic Electricity Transmission System, known as “Interconnected System”, seemingly spreading over the mainland of Greece and the Ionian Islands along with some located in the Aegean. In the Interconnected System, about a third of the generation capacity is located in northwestern Greece, in close proximity to the lignite areas which are a primary fuel source in Greece. All remaining islands, referred to as the “non-interconnected islands”, are served by autonomous oil-fired power plants and renewable energy sources. The largest power plants in the non-interconnected islands are located in Crete and Rhodes. The non-interconnected islands are “small isolated systems.”
Unfortunately, during the decade of the Greek financial crisis, projects devoted to deploying sustainable energy systems, such as energy production from Renewable Energy Sources, innovative hybrid energy systems, or even projects incentivizing the uptake of energy efficiency measures through demand side management and upgrading grids were set aside or ended. Besides crisis though, another major barrier was the conflicts between different stakeholders representing institutional, financial, political or social interests. However, there are case studies of Greek islands that have tracked satisfactory evolution within the context of energy autonomy.
Kythnos, Greece — An “Intelligent” island
The municipality of Kythnos, in the context of a broader strategic plan to become an “intelligent island”, participated in the project WiseGRID (Wide Scale Demonstration of Integrated Solutions and Business models for European smartGRID), which received funding from the European program Horizon 2020. The initiative was supported by the Aegean Energy Agency and the Network of Sustainable Greek Islands “Dafni”. The Smart Islands Initiative is currently supported by 70 island authorities from 13 countries across Europe. In March 2017, representatives from the islands’ local and regional authorities joined the official signing ceremony of the Smart Islands Declaration in the European Parliament and confirmed their islands’ commitment to transform into smart, inclusive and thriving societies, driving Europe’s transition into an innovative and sustainable era.
Based on the above, it becomes evident that moving towards a sustainable Europe, Greece and especially the smallest islands should not be left behind. SocialPolis Coin Project recognizing the need of a new concept of functionality seeking to integrate all AICBM (AI, IoT, Cloud, Big Data, Mobile) technologies to upgrade public operations, emergency management protocols, public safety policies, energy consumption and urban logistics.
Applying a Blockchain system basically means setting as a first priority the privacy of all registered individuals and transparently managing all transactions taking place while excluding intermediaries and ultimately, redefining what „smart‟ means.
A pilot SocialPolis Blockchain Area project is to be developed in close cooperation with the local authorities transforming the area of interest to a Blockchain city or island offering services and IT infrastructures for financial and social activities. SocialPolis Coin will play a key role in this project both as the major exchange coin within the island/city and also as a vehicle to attract investments.
To sum up, provided the Greek financial situation, SocialPolis Coin’s vision to transform Greek islands into a Blockchain Area may sound ambitious but it is absolutely applicable. Greece can and should move forward from the triptych “sun, sea, and fun” as a marketing flag and enter Blockchain sphere with its unique advantages for economy, society and environment.
Please find out more about SocialPolis Coin Project at: https://socialpolis.io
