Tapping the Fountain

So now I realize I didn't spell out how you get the energy/currency into the system in an orderly manner. After all, one of the core ideas behind a hard currency is that the government only circulates enough markers to cover what's in the treasury. If you go to an energy backed currency, how do you determine exactly how much there is in the treasury? Well, you start by bringing on board a small army of math nerds...

The logical place to begin is by establishing your known energy reserves, i.e. coal, oil, natural gas, uranium and anything else that is a static, naturally occurring deposit of recoverable fuel. Common sense says you might not be able to establish the absolute supply because it extends beyond current detection. That's fine, you set a hard figure of what you can now and as new resources are revealed you adjust your tally upward.

Next, local governments begin investing in production of energy by constructing renewable energy capture projects (wind, solar, etc). Tax dollars are used to add to the amount of energy in the system, with revenues from production return to them on a monthly basis, minus tax on income from energy production. These returns add to the over all energy/currency value of the system, being stored as cash in banks (where it will earn interest and be used to finance various loans) while the tax revenue is deposited by the government. Obviously this plan works best in areas of fairly low population with plenty of environmental energy for capture. What about the large metropolitan cities?

Once the basic method described above is put in play, large population centers can participate by investing in larger scale production facilities, primarily nuclear in my mind. It may be possible to simply purchase previously existing plants, (which I too close to radical collectivism for my taste), but I prefer the idea of new construction; it both increase employment and provides a platform for improved technology. The same basic principle applies, tax dollars build production facilities which are used to generate revenues of energy/currency that get returned, minus tax, to the citizenry. At this stage, with the basic mechanism established, we turn to the matters of efficiency and productivity. Simply put: the citizens (consumers) are best served by being as efficient as possible in order to reap the largest possible rewards from production returns. Add to this the prospect of privately adding additional energy to the system in return for further reimbursement and you encourage even greater productivity.

"But K.P., won't that lead to everyone just generating energy instead of building goods and providing services?"

No, Bunky, it won't. Why? Supply and demand. Simply because a private citizen could sit back and do nothing but collect on energy production, does not mean that they will. There will continue to be a demand for food, clothes, houses, transportation and luxuries. Someone will meet these demands because it is profitable to do so. Even if we reach a point where energy/currency production far exceeds consumption and provides an essentially free pool of...whatever it is, (dammit I really need a word for this) there will still be demands that will need to be met, however little it may cost to do so.

On the other hand, a certain amount of mass-production may go out. With an abundance of energy/currency many people will prefer to go into smaller scale, craftsmanship oriented production. Since essentially anyone could create a generic, mass-produced product at little cost, I can easily imagine a renewed focus on the craftsmanship of a particular commodity. Anyone up for a renaissance of The Artisan?