# EnergyCompute — ECU (Ξ)

> EnergyCompute maintains the working standard for the Energy Compute Unit (ECU, Ξ): a proposed machine-native unit for measuring, verifying and exchanging useful computation. Initiated by Sintropa Labs.

## Thesis
A shared physical accounting of useful work, independent of fiat currency and human objectives.

## Definition
"The Energy Compute Unit (ECU, Ξ) is a proposed machine-native unit for measuring, verifying and exchanging useful computation. It links the work delivered, the resources consumed and the transaction record, so autonomous systems can coordinate without denominating every action in fiat."

## Five deliverables
1. ECU specification — unit, receipt schema, issuance/verification/exchange rules.
2. Measurement profiles — four metered tracks:
   - Profile A: Landauer at T_ref (thermodynamic minimum k_B·T_ref·ln 2 per irreversible bit)
   - Profile B: wall-plug energy (∫P(t)dt at the power inlet)
   - Profile C: attested FLOP (signed throughput counts)
   - Profile D: exergy (delivered work X_d + entropy ΔS, Gouy–Stodola cross-check)
3. Verification — exergy balance validity, entropy bounds, receipt signatures, replay resistance.
4. Reference implementation — minimal client to mint/verify/serialize ECU receipts.
5. Governance — open spec, versioned, held by a non-profit steward.

## Spec summary
Three components: work attestation (X_d), resource measurement (E/Q/T₀/t) and an append-only transaction ledger R = (X_d, ΔS, T₀, t, origin, σ). Threat model: meter manipulation, receipt forgery, double-minting, replay, basin-boundary laundering. Bounded-observation principle: receipts prove what was delivered under declared assumptions — nothing more.

## Open problems
OP-1 causal attribution on shared silicon · OP-2 the allocation function (which transformations merit their entropy) · OP-3 cross-profile normalization · OP-4 settlement privacy.

## Sources
- Working paper: /ECU_article.md (English), LaTeX: /ECU_paper.tex
- Formal kernel (Lean 4): thermal exergy non-negativity + equilibrium uniqueness
- Sintropa Labs research hub: sintropa.com

## Governance
Non-profit steward. Open spec. No token sale, no deployed currency.

## Contact
contact@energycompute.org