Buying Solar Cells with Sun Exchange!

in #crypto5 years ago (edited)

As a father of two young children, I'm quite aware that I want to leave the planet a better place for them to inherit. Part of this is to provide and educate them well, but the other part is to be doing the best that I can to reduce our ecological footprint on the planet. Now, I'm afraid I'm not the type that can (or wants to) go completely vegetarian or off-grid, but there are things that I can do....

It is our ongoing dream to install solar panels on our house when we have the time and money (yes yes, even in The Netherlands it is still worthwhile!). However, before we can do that, we do need to renovate the attic to build out into what is known as a 'dak-kapel'. Basically this involves straightening out the sloping roof into a usable room rectangular room shape. Obviously, it would be incredibly handy to do this before installing a solar array on the roof! So, let's just say that this is going to be a long term project that isn't going to happen in the next year or two....

However, there is an alternative!

Spare cash


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In my first month of trading in the crypto derivatives markets at Bitmex, I've managed to double my initial investment. Before you go crazy and try to figure out how to rob me, let's just say it was a very token amount that I had invested, just to learn the ropes and the style of trading (which is very different to the regular altcoin trading). In hindsight, I wish I had risked my entire life savings, but I'm sure that if I had been stupid enough to do that, I would have lost it all!

However, that did mean I did have a small profit in Bitcoin with which I wanted to try and funnel into another experimental project!

The Sun Exchange

The Sun Exchange is an interesting project that I have been hearing a good deal about during the ad breaks on the crypto podcasts Unchained and Unconfirmed by Laura Shin. These are my all time favourite podcasts about crypto, as they are really decent interviews with the people developing the ideas and infrastructure in the crypto space. Most importantly, the podcasts are all about the interesting stuff in crypto... and that does NOT mean prices and trading and stupid profit before everything else....

... anyway, back on track. The Sun Exchange is a project that aims to microfinance the construction of solar cells in Africa. Now, crypto is uniquely poised to help this project, as the fact is that paying small amounts by crypto is a really feasible solution to the cross border payment problem. In addition, the idea is that it is a loan, so the investment comes back over the course of 20 years also via crypto. Alternative means of payment are also possible (credit card I think was an option). So, I had seen that a project had just recently opened up for solar cell sale for a school in South Africa and I took the opportunity to revert some of my profit to fund some of the cells. Now, I'm the proud owner of some cells that are being installed on a roof of a school in South Africa, with the idea that the power will be sold direct to the school.

This is a great idea for people who might want to join the solar revolution, but either don't have the physical possibility (like me) or the financial means (the micro financing means that cells are really quite cheap!). It is easy for you to set up an account, however if you do want to be paid back you will need to complete a very basic KYC/AML (Proof of identity and address). I would highly recommend this option if you want to help out the current power production problem (migration away from coal), whilst helping to micro-finance a worthy cause... whilst getting a return on your investment!

Quite honestly, it is a bit of win win win all around!

Project blurb

This is the blurb for the particular project that I supported. It is a school, but there were other projects that included factories, wildlife farms and elephant sanctuaries. There is often a short sale period, after which the installation begins quite quickly afterwards, and then it is straight to the power production (return on investment) phase. Currently, my particular project is in the installation phase.

Sun Exchange is solar powering Sacred Heart College and offering you the chance to buy solar cells in the project and earn revenue from the electricity they produce.

Education is the key to combating poverty and setting South Africa on the right trajectory for a prosperous future. As South African icon, Nelson Mandela, said; “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The school is renowned for working in collaboration with the surrounding communities and adopting a progressive teaching method designed to foster critical thinking skills. Located in Johannesburg, South Africa, the school is optimally situated as it receives sunshine for most of the year. This makes solar powering Sacred Heart a perfect project for Sun Exchange and the people that use our platform because it’s aligned with our brand values and guarantees profits for our customers.

In its 129-year history, Sacred Heart College has always been at the forefront of promoting social justice for all. Their unique characteristic is that they reflect a transformed microcosm of South African society. Acceptance, understanding, and respect for one another underpins all teaching and learning at the school. The school also shares its facilities with the Three2Six Refugee education project, which provides bridging education to refugee children.

The charity for this project is Field of Flowers. This is a fundraising initiative that provides bursaries for deserving learners to gain an exceptional education at Sacred Heart. You can, at your option, donate a proportion of your solar cell rental income to this charity.

This is a great opportunity to solar power a project that promotes progressive education, offset your carbon emission and earn a significant passive income stream paid optionally in Bitcoin or local currency and in addition earns you SUNEX and SolarCoin bonuses!

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This is such a simple, yet brilliant idea! And it shows that crypto really can change the world :)
I've often thought about installing solar panels, but apart from the fact that we barely get enough sunshine in Scotland to satisfy most people's vitamin D requirements, it's almost impossible to do this if you live in a flat (unless all the owners agree to it).

Yes, I do like the idea of financing some solar cells elsewhere if I can't do it immediately for myself... or if you live in a non ideal climate/situation to install them!

Crypto just makes it that little bit easier for the microfinancing model to work, with the ability to side-step the cross border payment problems!



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This is really fascinating! I will have to take a look.

It's a pretty interesting concept. Microfinance is not particularly new, but the addition of crypto reduces the friction and helps open it up to smaller investors!

I bought panels for my house just about a month ago. It was worth it for sure. I think this is a good idea to look at man thanks for sharing.

Ah, I'm jealous! I can't wait to be able to do the same for my house. First renovate the roof... And then I'm there!

That looks like a very good project and doing wonders to spread positive feelings around cryptocurrency and ecology! Thanks for sharing and yes - Ledger Nano S is awesome!

Ledger... I highly recommend it to everyone!

The Sun Exchange is an interesting meld of the new (crypto) and the old (microfinance), I think this could be one of the areas where crypto with it's lower fees for cross border payments could really shine! (BAM... that was unintentional...).

Absolutely, got one around Xmas 2017 and never looked back. Feel that the coins I have a pretty secure with it and that was some fine pun work there 😉

Posted using Partiko Android

The Sun Exchange is a microfinance solution that gives investors an alternative option to park their money if they do choose, instead of (like your linked article) parking it with an emissions intensive company. If there were more options like this, then there would be enough of a market to draw away some of the investors in those companies into financing alternative ways of energy production. After all, you can't prohibit people from wanting a return on their investment! But you can provide alternatives with as little friction as possible.

no amount of capitalism will fix this problem

I agree in part. I would say that no amount of capitalism by itself will fix this problem in an acceptable time frame.

Eventually fossil fuels will be too expensive due to lack of supply (or perhaps by correctly pricing the externalities), and the market by itself will sort them problem, however the time frame is way too disastrous for humans.

Thus, regulations and support for emerging industries is required. We do see instances of this working. Despite the complete dysfunction of the Australian climate and energy policy, companies are responding to the projected economic playing field and either refusing to build or keep open coal power plants or banks refusing to fund them. This is a market and capitalism in action.

The article you linked correctly identifies investors as the solution to changing the energy market. However, the most frictionless way to do this is to offer enticing alternative investments and harness market forces. This way both companies and investors will change their behaviour to 'win', and those that don't will fall away. We can complain that people should be more moral and altruistic, but that won't have any impact beyond making ourselves feel better.

let me butt in here real quick. We have less than 20 years to reverse climate change. There are no market forces that can do it in that amount of time, and I doubt market forces even could fix the problem.

Capital accumulation is the problem. Money makes money. When people focus on short-term accumulation they will end up with more resources and power, that's just what happens when capital compounds. That means the highest rate of profit, regardless of the consequence for humanity, will always win out. If people refuse to fund places like oil companies, those that do will just get an even bigger return on their investment and grow even more powerful. Capital will have the same result regardless of who controls it.

This doesn't even get into how capitalism has to grow to keep even the illusion of stability, meaning it will uselessly use up all of our resources, and that the tendency of the rate of profit to fall and all of that would eventually kill us off anyway

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This is quite an interesting project! Thanks for bringing it to our attention on PYPT!

No problem, it's a worthwhile project. I think I will also invest a bit in the next open project when it opens up... unless it is funding something like a prison....

A noble endeavor.

Thanks for all the additional info.

Namaste, JaiChai

It's a good project, I think it understands that more people are not driven by pure unblembished altruism, but also by the lure of a return as well.

This is a game changer man.

It is a pretty good use of crypto to streamline an existing idea!

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