IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i17p8063-d1744247.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Sustainability Assessment of a Blockchain-Secured Solar Energy Logger for Edge IoT Environments

Author

Listed:
  • Javad Vasheghani Farahani

    (School of International Management, Modul University Vienna, 1190 Vienna, Austria)

  • Horst Treiblmaier

    (School of International Management, Modul University Vienna, 1190 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

In this paper, we design, implement, and empirically evaluate a tamper-evident, blockchain-secured solar energy logging system for resource-constrained edge Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Using a Merkle tree batching approach in conjunction with threshold-triggered blockchain anchoring, the system combines high-frequency local logging with energy-efficient, cryptographically verifiable submissions to the Ethereum Sepolia testnet, a public Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain. The logger captured and hashed cryptographic chains on a minute-by-minute basis during a continuous 135 h deployment on a Raspberry Pi equipped with an INA219 sensor. Thanks to effective retrial and daily rollover mechanisms, it committed 130 verified Merkle batches to the blockchain without any data loss or unverifiable records, even during internet outages. The system offers robust end-to-end auditability and tamper resistance with low operational and carbon overhead, which was tested with comparative benchmarking against other blockchain logging models and conventional local and cloud-based loggers. The findings illustrate the technical and sustainability feasibility of digital audit trails based on blockchain technology for distributed solar energy systems. These audit trails facilitate scalable environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, automated renewable energy certification, and transparent carbon accounting.

Suggested Citation

  • Javad Vasheghani Farahani & Horst Treiblmaier, 2025. "A Sustainability Assessment of a Blockchain-Secured Solar Energy Logger for Edge IoT Environments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(17), pages 1-31, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8063-:d:1744247
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8063/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/17/8063/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stanislav Edward Shmelev & Elisa Gilardi, 2025. "Corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance Performance: The Impacts on Financial Returns, Business Model Innovation, and Social Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-41, February.
    2. Holzapfel, Peter K.R. & Bánk, János & Bach, Vanessa & Finkbeiner, Matthias, 2024. "Relevance of guarantees of origin for Europe's renewable energy targets," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Eid M Alotaibi & Ashraf Khallaf & Abed Al-Nasser Abdallah & Taisier Zoubi & Awwad Alnesafi, 2024. "Blockchain-Driven Carbon Accountability in Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-30, December.
    4. Zhixin Zhang & Zhen Qian & Min Chen & Rui Zhu & Fan Zhang & Teng Zhong & Jian Lin & Liang Ning & Wei Xie & Felix Creutzig & Wenjun Tang & Laibao Liu & Jiachuan Yang & Ye Pu & Wenjia Cai & Yingxia Pu &, 2025. "Worldwide rooftop photovoltaic electricity generation may mitigate global warming," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 15(4), pages 393-402, April.
    5. Kimia Honari & Sara Rouhani & Nida E. Falak & Yuan Liu & Yunwei Li & Hao Liang & Scott Dick & James Miller, 2023. "Smart Contract Design in Distributed Energy Systems: A Systematic Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(12), pages 1-28, June.
    6. Alessandra Chiarini & Lorenzo Compagnucci, 2022. "Blockchain, Data Protection and P2P Energy Trading: A Review on Legal and Economic Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, December.
    7. Liu, Wei-Jen & Chiu, Wei-Yu & Hua, Weiqi, 2024. "Blockchain-enabled renewable energy certificate trading: A secure and privacy-preserving approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 290(C).
    8. Hou Jiang & Ling Yao & Jun Qin & Yongqing Bai & Martin Brandt & Xu Lian & Steve J. Davis & Ning Lu & Wenli Zhao & Tang Liu & Chenghu Zhou, 2025. "Globally interconnected solar-wind system addresses future electricity demands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    9. Siti Rohana Ahmad Ibrahim & Jamaiah Yahaya & Hasimi Sallehudin, 2022. "Green Software Process Factors: A Qualitative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-26, September.
    10. Magda Pineda & Daladier Jabba & Wilson Nieto-Bernal & Alfredo Pérez, 2024. "Sustainable Consensus Algorithms Applied to Blockchain: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-26, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marsela Thanasi-Boçe & Julian Hoxha, 2025. "Blockchain for Sustainable Development: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-38, May.
    2. Iqra Nazir & Nermish Mushtaq & Waqas Amin, 2025. "Smart Grid Systems: Addressing Privacy Threats, Security Vulnerabilities, and Demand–Supply Balance (A Review)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-77, September.
    3. Eid M. Alotaibi & Abdulaziz M. Alwathnani, 2025. "AI-Enabled ESG Compliance Audit for Stakeholders," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-19, October.
    4. Stanislav Edward Shmelev, 2025. "Biodiversity Offset Schemes for Indonesia: Pro et Contra," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(14), pages 1-38, July.
    5. Chen, Liutao & Lin, Zinan & Zhou, Qi & Zhang, Shihong & Li, Mengying & Wang, Zhe, 2025. "Impacts of photovoltaics and integrated green roofs on urban climate: Experimental insights for urban land surface modelling," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    6. Sid-Ali Amamra, 2025. "A Hybrid Blockchain Solution for Electric Vehicle Energy Trading: Balancing Proof of Work and Proof of Stake," Energies, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-26, April.
    7. Yuwei, Liu & Li, Lingling & Jiaqi, Liu, 2024. "Hybrid scheduling strategy and improved marine predator optimizer for energy scheduling in integrated energy system to enhance economic and environmental protection capability," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).
    8. Asif Raihan & Syed Masiur Rahman & Mohammad Ridwan & Tapan Sarker, 2025. "FinTech Adoption and Its Influence on Sustainable Mineral Resource Management in the United States," Resources, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    9. Zhenyuan Zhuang & Huaizhi Wang & Cilong Yu, 2025. "Prediction of Short-Term Solar Irradiance Using the ProbSparse Attention Mechanism for a Sustainable Energy Development Strategy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(3), pages 1-21, January.
    10. Andrea Sarcina & Rubina Canesi, 2023. "Renewable Energy Community: Opportunities and Threats towards Green Transition," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-21, September.
    11. Hosseini Dehshiri, Seyyed Jalaladdin & Amiri, Maghsoud & Mostafaeipour, Ali & Le, Ttu, 2024. "Integrating blockchain and strategic alliance in renewable energy supply chain toward sustainability: A comparative decision framework under uncertainty," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    12. Wenbing Zhao & Quan Qi & Jiong Zhou & Xiong Luo, 2023. "Blockchain-Based Applications for Smart Grids: An Umbrella Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-35, August.
    13. Di Wang & Qiyue Wu & Junyan Guo, 2025. "Research on Strategy Selection of Power Supply Chain Under Renewable Energy Consumption and Energy Storage Cost Sharing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(10), pages 1-28, May.
    14. Francesca Spigarelli & Lorenzo Compagnucci & Dominique Lepore, 2025. "Blockchain unlocking collaborative opportunities for environmental sustainability through innovation intermediaries," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 516-551, April.
    15. Joan R. Sanchis & Vanessa Campos & Ana T. Ejarque, 2025. "A Proposed Typology for the Validation of Corporate Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-23, August.
    16. Hanna F. Scholta & Maximilian J. Blaschke, 2025. "Temporal matching as an accounting principle for green electricity claims," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-11, December.
    17. Chao Yan & Jianyun Xu & Chunrui Li & Qilin Han & Hongwei Li & Jun Wang, 2025. "Carbon-Aware Dispatch of Industrial Park Energy Systems with Demand Response and Ladder-Type Carbon Trading," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.
    18. Aristidis G. Anagnostakis & Euripidis Glavas, 2025. "The New CAP Theorem on Blockchain Consensus Systems," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-24, April.
    19. Medalit Villegas-Casaverde & Alfredo Prado-Canchari & Katia Choque-Quispe & John Peter Aguirre-Landa & Henrry Wilfredo Agreda-Cerna & Delma Diana Reynoso-Canicani & Edwin Mescco Cáceres & Rosa Gabriel, 2025. "High Andean Association Producers of Organic Quinoa: A Sustainability Study Based on Competitiveness and Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(9), pages 1-14, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:17:p:8063-:d:1744247. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.