Bristol City Council is trialling a new blockchain-based scheme that rewards employees for their energy efficient behaviour.
It is using EnergiMine’s ‘EnergiToken’ (ETK) rewards platform, which incentivises users for exhibiting behaviours that help save energy.
Employees of the council can choose to add their reward tokens, or digital currency, to their wallet or app to claim offers from partner companies or donate the equivalent value to a registered charity.
EnergiMine, a blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) energy solutions company that currently manages more than $300 million (£238m) worth of energy, has so far secured partnerships with the Energy Managers Association (EMA), the ON5 Group and nextbike UK.
The collaboration with the company is part of the council’s efforts to help the city achieve its ambitious goal of becoming carbon neutral.
The council has already recorded a 71% reduction in carbon emissions from its direct activities against a 2005 baseline, surpassing its 65% target for 2020.
Councillor Kye Dudd, Cabinet Member for Energy and Transport said: “Bristol is a city that is leading the fight against climate change in the UK. We have invested a great deal in renewable energy, low carbon heat, sustainable transport, improving the energy efficiency of our buildings and developing the City Leap initiative that will bring £1 billion of energy investment into the city.
“We’re very excited about this partnership with EnergiMine which represents another method for engaging our city in the very real and pressing issue of climate change. The pilot to deliver rewards to our staff for being more energy efficient will undoubtedly reduce carbon emissions and save the council money on its energy bills but we hope that some of those positive behaviours will overlap into people’s home lives and in time influence friends and relatives. This behaviour change at a city-level will be key in the coming years as Bristol forges ahead on our journey to carbon neutrality.’’
Technologies for energy users that can help them reduce costs and emissions, including the first AI energy manager, will be among those on display at The Energy Solutions Show (TESS) on June 5th at Millennium Point, Birmingham.
If you wish to register as a delegate for free, you can send an e-mail here.
