Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally

Chapter 38Green Policy and Crypto Energy Consumption in the EU

Proving the heliocentric model of our solar system put forward by European scientists Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BC, Greece), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543, Poland), Galileo Galilei (1564–1642, Italy) and Johannes Kepler (1571–1630, Germany) took 2,200 years, when the GermanAmerican spaceflight, the Helios 2 solar probe, cruised within 26.55 million miles (42.73 million kilometers) of the sun in April of 1976. Now, the European Union is solarizing its digital economy at a much faster pace.

With renewable energy projected to comprise 90% of the electricity mix in Europe by 2040, the following three major factors are contributing to this paradigm shift in energy.

1. Technological: Blockchain‐based digital technologies are decentralizing and democratizing the electricity supply by enabling the interoperability of solar cell photovoltaic (PV) energy produced from diversified PV assets with micro‐ and macro‐utility electric grids. This is keeping EU‐based companies that perform efficiently, even in cloudy conditions, at the forefront of space‐grade and liquid PV innovation.
2. Economic: Solar energy is an increasingly attractive alternative from an economic standpoint due to its declining cost, the demand for solar PV panel installations in the EU's smart cities, an increase in CO₂ costs attributable to carbon taxes and environmental lawsuit fines, net metering subsidies, as well as funding—including from the European ...