Dell, Zededa plus LF Edge projects enable carbon tracking at Chilean winery

The company faces the challenge of processing data from multiple sensors that measured water, solids, gases, and anaerobic digestion processes in real-time to obtain reliable information about their carbon footprint.

To address this issue, project partners used the Data Confidence Fabric (DCF) framework of Project Alvarium and the cloud computing capabilities of Project EVE.

Trusted edge data plus blockchain equals trusted MRV

Mathew Yarger, advisor at IOTA and go-founder of DigitalMRV, Steve Todd, VP of data innovation and strategy at Dell Technologies, and Kathy Giori, global Partnerships and outreach at MicroBlocks, shared insights about using open source software to monitor the carbon footprint in the world’s first BioGas Plant, which uses harvest waste as its only fuel on a recent webinar.

The speakers began the webinar by discussing the problem of inaccurate reporting of emissions in sustainability. Measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) is a key term in sustainability and carbon governance. It refers to the process of measuring greenhouse gas emissions, reporting the data in a transparent and consistent manner, and verifying the accuracy of the reported information. MRV provides the basis for tracking progress toward emission reduction goals and for ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements.

Yarger says that although 85% of organizations aim to reduce their emissions, only 9% can comprehensively measure them. About 90% of the work that happens is done by hand, including “auditors going to facilities, looking at data points and gathering them with a clipboard and spreadsheets, coming back and spending a lot of time going over the data that they collect,” Yarger notes.

“Adding data to an immutable ledger is one aspect that can increase the confidence in the data because it brings tamper resistance, but it doesn’t quantify how the data is being managed along the way. If you’re taking bad data and you’re putting it into a ledger, it’s a little more secure, but it’s still bad data. So how do we verify that data is good and that it hasn’t been manipulated, and that it’s been managed appropriately?” Yarger asks.

The solution: Using a process that involves collecting both manual and automated data and feeding it through a Dell server that runs Project Alvarium code. The results are then stored in the IOTA Tangle ledger.

A Dell server pre-installed with EVE was sent to the deployment site and connected to the internet. The Alvarium and IOTA applications were managed by their respective project teams, while the Dell server was secured and remotely configured and controlled using the commercial SaaS EVE Controller from Zededa. The hardware has a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) that allows boot and application functions including management of a virtual machine or a container image can be securely and remotely deployed, according to Kathy Giori of MicroBlocks.

One key advantage of this approach: application developers and device management personnel don’t need to be present at the plant in Molina, Chile. As a result, the MRV process, which previously took between 24 to 48 months to complete, can now be accomplished in just 4 to 6 weeks.

According to the case study, the deployment represents a significant milestone in the development of an open-source framework for the edge. By providing improved insight into carbon emissions, the solution provides “Accelerated funding opportunities, with lower risk for investors, drive new innovation to power action against climate change.”

Article Topics

blockchain  |  carbon tracking  |  Dell  |  DigitalMRV  |  IOTA  |  LF Edge  |  MRV  |  open source  |  sustainability  |  TPM  |  Zededa