Ideas from
Contributors
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An energy-based
currency
from Dennis Spain
acudoc@bluehawaii.net
It is becoming increasingly obvious that we
as a species need to be more far-sighted with respect to
energy sourcing and distribution, and many people are
starting to recognize the pressing need for a
transition to a
world economy based on hydrogen as the main energy
source. As fundamental as this shift to
a hydrogen-based world economy will be, however, an
even more encompassing shift in economic outlook will
result from the adoption of a hydrogen-based monetary
system.
Humanity is presently enslaved to monetary systems
that support an energy production and distribution network
that is wreaking havoc with the biosphere, while
concentrating wealth in a financial elite at an
ever-increasing rate. Worldwide the agricultural,
industrial, and service economic sectors are all being based
increasingly on systems of activity
that do not have sustainable, renewable energy inputs, and
that create outputs which are doing irreparable harm to the
natural order.
A true strengthening of the economic life of nations
ultimately depends upon an intact biosphere and an
appreciation for sustainability in all its forms. I
propose that a renewable currency based on a novel definition of
wealth is necessary to support the perspective of
sustainability. Presently money is created out of
thin air in the governmentally-authorized accounts of certain
central banks. The amount of money created is decided by a
handful of economic experts. That currency or
credit is backed only by the faith that a populace puts in
it.
A renewable monetary
unit could be constructed in the form of
currency backed by stored hydrogen that has been
generated exclusively >from renewable energy
sources. Any entity, whether individual, corporate,
or governmental, that generates hydrogen from renewable
energy sources would be creating by that act the backing
for currency or credit that could be used as a
medium of exchange throughout the world
economy. This hydrogen energy currency
would function in the same way as do the
present currencies, but subject to
the constraint that the hydrogen backing the
currency could be produced only by capturing and
transforming the available cyclical energy flows that
exist on the planet's surface, all of which can be traced
back to solar energy.
The primary energy producers in the system would
become the creators of credit and currency in a new,
decentralized banking structure.
Banking would essentially be the
process of accounting for the production and use of the
hydrogen in the economy.
We must come to realize that
energy is the fundamental
wealth, whether in the life of an individual
or in the economic life of a nation. In a
hydrogen-denominated monetary system, stores of
hydrogen and the hydrogen currency would be
yoked together into a single system.
Only the production of energy units in the form of
stored hydrogen would create credit in this proposed
system---not central govenrments, as is presently the
case. The primary producers of this energy create
the backing for the currency that all elements of the
society then use as a medium for exchange. The
beauty of this idea is that no
individual, group, corporation, or even government entity
is barred from creating hydrogen-backed money, as long as
the energy required to create the hydrogen comes from
renewable sources. The hydrogen becomes part
of a "pool" which supples the energy demands of the
society for all the various processes of production
and service.
The hydrogen currency associated with the renewable
production of hydrogen is circulated in the
same way as any currency is now. The value of these
hydrogen units will rise and fall naturally with the
amount of hydrogen that the primary producers in a
society create, and the value of these units would
ultimately be proportional to the production and service
that results from the actual use of the hydrogen by the
society as an energy source.
At some point in the normal circulation of the
hydrogen currency some entity must actually purchase
hydrogen for use as a fuel in manufacturing or
transportation, or any other acutal energy utilisation,
and at that time the currency is automatically "consumed"
by its endpoint use in the actual purchase of hydrogen
fuel. The hydrogen currency that is used by any entity to
purchase actual hydrogen fuel is removed from the books
by the simple act of extinguishing the currency, in the
same way that credit issued by a federal bank is
now extinguished whenever a principal is paid
off.
Hydrogen, nature's simplest and most energy-dense,
oxidizable fuel, may be the answer to the question of
how to organize man's economic activity most
justly.
Collecting
ideas from the lonely elderly.
From Eliza
Foster
To ask
welfare recipients to volunteer an hour of their time each week to
visit a lonely elderly person whom they know, to interview them
and ask them what social inventions they can offer. From here
comes the promise of some truly great ideas, as the elderly have
lots of time to think about such things and probably do!
(This is an excellent idea, and not only welfare recipients could
take it up. Security for the elderly makes it essential that
others know who is visiting and when, and that there is some
organisational link, except for established friends. No old person
should be contacted by someone they do not know personally, or
accept a visit from a stranger.
Telephone interviewing is also possible, through a voluntary
organisation, especially for those who are bedbound but alert.
Taping is a good way to go about it, unless the interviewer has a
shorthand.)
A Web e-zine for
Seniors,
from Alan Wheatley
Solar power for cooling units
from Alan Wheatley
Solar technology could be used to cool houses.
Solar panels on the roofs of buildings could be connected to a
cooling unit. When the temperature reaches say 30 degrees, the
cooling system kicks in. So the sun provides its own source of
power to make people comfortable instead of heat-stressed.
Internet access packages for seniors
from Alan Wheatley
A trade-union that I have read
about has brokered a deal with a computer company and an internet
service provider to offer packages to its members. My idea is that
a socially responsible organisation such as an insurance company,
health fund, retilrement village developer or radio station, could
do the same, for a package that seniors could more easily afford.
This might even be a drawcard to attract more customers.
Some earlier Ideas
- Reducing costs of elections - M.
Tomlinson
- Slow-talking
tapes for stroke patients - Ethel
Date
- Pocket-cards
for communication by
language-handicapped people - Ethel
Date
-
A good
sleep before a diagnosis
is made of mental illness - Ethel Date
- A Community
Room for your home - Geoff
Smith
Reducing costs of
elections - From M.
Tomlinson.
Aim.
To reduce the excessive influence of donations on the political
process, so that governments are not influenced by the big donors,
as with concessions to tobacco interests and Czech privatisations
of state companies. Ineffective countermeasures have been imposing
total limits on party expenditure (easily evaded) and state
funding of political parties (which continue to raise more cash
from donations.) Ideas:
• A cap on individual donations, such as limiting individuals
to under $10,000 and companies to $20,000 and all donations must
be declared. In this way individuals and companies would be free
to make donations, parties would be free to solicit them;
the only restriction on liberty would be on the freedom to make
donations so large they have the effect of distorting the
democratic process.
• A cap on campaign expenditure to 50 cents per voter would
reduce shocking waste of Australian resources and allow a more
level playing field. Even so, that means a very great expenditure
in say, popular voting for a President, which can very well mean
only millionaires need apply, as in USA.
Slow-Talking
tapes, with repetition, for
stroke victims to listen to.
These could help some stroke
victims recover their language abilities because it can be
difficult for them to follow the normal pace and lack of
repetition in the usual tapes to listen to. Many of the old
stories told orally down the generations contained a great deal of
repetition in a way that added to the style of the story and
helped to make them memorable. Ethel Date of Western Australia
promotes this idea.
Pocket cards for
people with language/literacy difficulties.
These cards contain basic
messages relevant to the individual person, such as address, where
they want to go, what they want to find, medical treatment in
emergencies, could have logos on them so that the card-carrier
could recognise each and select the one they wished to show
someone. Possibly spirex-organised. Suggested by Ethel Date of
Western Australia.
Sleep deprivation
and diagnosis of mental
illness.
Ethel Date of Western
Australia suggests that sometimes lack of sleep produces symptoms
of mental illness, not just the other way round, and that before a
diagnosis for treatment is made, patients should be assured of
several nights good sleep. To which could be added, some assurance
of a little exercise in the fresh air, and of people in their
normal environment who are friendly to them. Many people depressed
because they feel rejected are in fact rejected, and as long as
the environment is rude and hostile, verbal therapy can help
little.
Send in your idea
in under 250 words, with subject title 'Ozidea'
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