Base Carbon Meter

Problem Statement

A DePIN + AI + Climate Infrastructure protocol built natively on BaseBase Carbon Meter is a decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) project that turns verified renewable energy generation into on-chain carbon offsets, tokenized climate assets, and auditable ESG data, all measured automatically and secured on Base. It is an end-to-end automated MRV (Measurement, Reporting, Verification) pipeline that connects real-world renewable generation, AI-based verification, and on-chain carbon accounting without relying on manual reporting, ill-defined spreadsheets, or legacy auditing firms.At the hardware layer, Base Carbon Meter integrates directly with solar, hydro, or off-grid microgeneration systems. The device collects precise voltage/current data from the installation. This data is passed to our backend, where an LLM (Amazon Bedrock/local inference) runs logic routing, anomaly detection, data validation, and risk scoring before forwarding verified energy readings to the CarbonSmartMeter contract deployed on Base.The smart contract mints BaseCarbon (BC) tokens whenever a verified 2.5 kWh threshold is reached, representing avoided CO₂ emissions. Instead of using a third-party oracle, Base Carbon Meter includes an internal AI-assisted price feed that maintains an index value for BC based on regional grid intensity, renewable energy value, and market demand. This provides a transparent, upgradeable valuation layer suitable for ESG reporting, sustainability procurement, and climate finance applications.To close the loop, we built a peer-to-peer carbon marketplace where buyers (aviation, agriculture exporters, ESG funds, enterprises) can make offers, negotiate volume pricing, and purchase BaseCarbon directly from energy producers. The marketplace supports multi-currency purchasing: buyers can pay in any crypto or fiat, which the frontend converts using Coinbase CDP Trade APIs, enabling frictionless on-chain settlement. A 95/5 split between producer and treasury ensures network sustainability while preserving high rewards for green energy generators.This project is a fully operational climate infrastructure protocol that uses Base as the immutable ledger for energy verification, carbon accounting, and decentralized sustainability markets. It directly addresses the urgent compliance gap created by the EU Green Deal, offering farmers, micro generators, and industry a simple way to obtain verifiable sustainability data that meets real regulatory requirements.Base Carbon Meter showcases Base as the ideal home for real world, AI powered, high impact applications:AI + DePIN + Base united into a seamless end-to-end flowFully automated, tamper-resistant climate MRVHardware → data → AI → verification → tokenization → marketplaceReal utility for agriculture, energy and aerospaceAI-driven carbon valuation (no external oracle dependency)A carbon market built natively for Base, not bridged from elsewhereDemonstrates Base as a platform for climate infrastructure at global scale

Solution

Base Carbon Meter is built as a full DePIN + AI + on-chain MRV system that connects physical renewable energy hardware with Base smart contracts through an automated verification pipeline. At the hardware layer, our device uses an ESP32 microcontroller connected to solar generation infrastructure, capturing live voltage/current measurements. These raw electrical signals are streamed through a secure Wifi connection to our backend, where an LLM (Amazon Bedrock/local inference) performs logic routing, anomaly detection, metadata validation, regional grid-factor assignment, and energy to kWh verification.Once verified, the backend sends clean, attack-resistant energy data to our CarbonSmartMeter smart contract deployed on Base. The contract stores cumulative energy, calculates avoided CO₂ using internal emission factors, and automatically mints BaseCarbon (BC) tokens when thresholds are reached (2.5 kWh = 1 BC). All token accounting, minting permissions, and device bindings are handled via on-chain logic with strict owner-only write access, ensuring tamper resistance. We built a P2P carbon marketplace on Base using a separate contract that supports listings, escrowed offers, negotiated pricing, and 95/5 revenue sharing between producer and treasury. Buyers interact with the marketplace through a simple UI where they can purchase BC using any currency. We use Coinbase CDP Trade APIs to perform seamless on-chain swaps so that fiat, stablecoins, or crypto can be converted into ETH before settlement. CDP Data APIs allow us to query balances, track settlement outcomes, and display wallet state in real time. The backend and marketplace scripts are written in Node.js using Hardhat, ethers.js, and a modular server architecture. Smart contracts are written in Solidity (v0.8.24) and deployed to Base Sepolia. All MRV and device data is handled off-chain for privacy and performance, but all verified results are anchored immutably on Base.We built an internal “oracle stub” that simulates dynamic BC valuation without relying on an external oracle network, enabling the protocol to remain fully self contained during the hackathon. We also implemented a private offer system where negotiation data is stored in private on chain, with only final settlement publicly visible a rare but intentional design to support commercial privacy in climate markets. Overall, the project combines hardware, AI verification, on chain accounting, tokenization, pricing, and a full end to end marketplace, showcasing Base as an ideal environment for real world energy and climate infrastructure.