Energy Vampires is a local start-up that aims to speed up Romania’s transition to green energy, with the help of a collection of NFTs. “By purchasing an NFT, Romanians can become co-owners of a renewable energy production park, obtaining passive income for at least 25 years,” says Valentin Albu, one of the co-founders.
The acronym NFT refers to non-fungible tokens, a non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger, that can be sold and traded.
“Electricity sets us in motion, being closely related to the evolution of mankind over the last hundred years. At the same time, by burning gas, oil and coal – the conventional ways of obtaining electricity – the Earth is polluted in such an aggressive way that the effects of this process will soon become irreversible.
Technological advances today allow the large-scale production of electricity from renewable sources (water, wind, sun), also called green energy because for its production no greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere. “Our start-up aims to support efforts to reduce pollution, through a project that combines two of the industries with major growth potential in the coming years: the blockchain and green energy,” explains Ionuț Vasilică, co-founder of Energy Vampires.
In 2021, NFT trading totaled $ 17.6 billion, up by 21,000% from 2020. NFT is one of the newest industries, with opportunities for major financial gains, but it comes bundled with commensurate risks. “NFTs have the potential to revolutionize the art, entertainment industry, property rights and many other fields. However, I believe that over 95% of NFT collections will be worthless in the next 5 years and this is because, most of the time, the founders do not think beyond the moment of minting, their only purpose being financial gains from an industry that is creating effervescence at the moment”, say the founders of Energy Vampires. “We wanted to build a fundamentally different project. 85% of the funds obtained from the sale of the 10,000 NFTs from the Energy Vampires collection will go towards the purchase of a renewable energy production park, which we will later deliver to the national energy system. The money obtained from the sale of electricity, after the payment of taxes, will be returned to the owners of the NFTs through a smart contract. Given that a renewable energy production unit has a lifespan of at least 25 years, we are practically talking about NFTs that for at least a quarter of a century will generate passive income for their owners. Moreover, we have chosen to build this collection on the Elrond blockchain, a blockchain that is carbon neutral, so non-polluting and thus supports international efforts to reduce greenhouse gases”, explains Valentin Albu.
The Energy Vampires NFT collection will be launched in May, in two stages: its pre-sale and its public. Information on the exact release date will be posted on the Energy Vampires website and on the official Twitter page.
“After the sale of the collection, we will purchase a ready-to-build project and start the actual construction. This process involves NDA, audit, bidding, administrative, and licensing. Following the sale of the collection, depending on the time of conversion of EGLD to FIAT, we will be able to purchase a park with an installed capacity between 1.2-12 MW. Currently, the price of one MW is between 0.9-1 million euros. Our team is made up of people with experience in the field, who work in top management positions in energy companies, so we know what we have to do. Moreover, our names, CVs and pictures with us are public on the Energy Vampires website, we are totally committed to this project, another differentiator from most NFT collections where we see that the identity of the founders is kept secret,” adds Ionuț Vasilică.