In Brief
David Vorick, founder of Glow, reflects on 14 months of running Glow V1 — a decentralized solar protocol — and introduces the major shifts that shaped the design of Glow V2. From unexpected human behavior to financial engineering and the surprising downsides of carbon credits, this talk reveals how real-world deployment redefines innovation.
Reality is the ultimate filter for innovation. Glow V1 was launched with a clear theoretical framework. Glow V2 is a product of hard-earned field lessons — and it flips core assumptions. Token incentives work. Financial engineering, not hardware, became the primary source of innovation. And carbon credits, while impactful, are not the narrative that drives mass adoption.
Key Numbers & Insights
• Glow V1 has been live for 14 months, with zero upgrades and no major failures.
• Homeowners agreed to install solar only after hearing they’d receive tokens — even if they didn’t fully understand what the tokens were.
• The largest solar installation on Glow today is 16 MW. Larger farms will continue to dominate due to economies of scale.
• Glow V1 focused on generating high-quality carbon credits, but carbon markets proved uninspiring, messy, and emotionally draining.
• Glow V2 shifts focus: from carbon credits to solar energy as the hero product — powering AI, hospitals, and resilient infrastructure.
Takeaways from the Field
Token Incentives Drive Behavior
Investors were skeptical. Reality proved otherwise. The promise of tokens alone was enough to convert uninterested homeowners into solar adopters.
The Real Bottleneck: Financing
Unlike Bitcoin, where innovation was in chip design and hardware efficiency, Glow’s innovation came from structuring solar financing in new, capital-efficient ways. Not engineering — but financial gymnastics.
Scale Crushes Small Players
Every 10x increase in project size makes previous farms obsolete. But early participants still win — because token value grows with the protocol.
Carbon Credits Don’t Inspire
The carbon credit market is slow, cynical, and scandal-ridden. Selling guilt reduction is not an exciting pitch — even when the credits are real.
Solar is a Narrative That Works
Solar is clean, guilt-free, and productive. It powers hospitals, AIs, and local energy independence. “Print, baby, print” finally sounds optimistic.
Governments Don’t Just Want Carbon
Whether it’s Germany reducing reliance on Russian energy or Sudan powering hospitals, most governments care about energy resilience more than emissions reduction.
Why This Matters
Glow V2 isn’t just a protocol upgrade. It’s a shift from theory to system-level learning — from idealistic carbon markets to solving tangible energy problems. This is what real DePIN looks like: capital efficiency, demand-driven growth, and protocol structures that can evolve beyond “climate guilt”
What Glow V2 Unlocks
• Modular financing tools — designed for innovation and composability
• Solar-centric targeting — deploy solar where it solves real-world needs
• Accessible participation — from $5, not $50M, subject to regulation
• User-directed deployment — communities choose where energy flows
Glow V1 proved a theory. Glow V2 answers reality.
What began as a carbon credit protocol evolved into a solar deployment engine — built on the lessons of real users, real energy needs, and real incentives. Financial engineering beat hardware hacks. Token motivation beat investor doubt. And energy, not carbon, became the story worth telling.
