Sample Design for People Power Stations in Developed Economies
People Power Stations compensate persons with local credit to develop their local renewable energy resources, and then discount that energy when traded for the local credit. This discount creates a demand for Reconomy credit, which works right beside national currency but stays in communities, empowering each of us to develop and protect all our human and natural resources.
)Reconomy can build communities founded on self-reliance anywhere in the world by adapting to the local level of development. With our developed-community pilots, our members can purchase electricity online from their community PPS at a discount with SunMoney, generating the demand for this community currency that powers continuous development of local energy resources and builds genuine local marketplaces where members have a stake in local sustainability.
Members can trade SunMoney community credit, as well as their regular national money online, in their local Reconomy marketplace, but their local credit has greater value in this marketplace than national money because it delivers energy at a discount. Consequently, SunMoney used to acquire energy from local People Power Stations (PPSs) can easily be spent by these neighborhood power plants back into the local marketplace to fund further community development. This allows PPS to offer their members free walk-through assessments of their homes and businesses to identify potential energy efficiency improvements, and then target and fund the most cost-effective measures such that energy conserved can facilitate reaching new members at the lowest costs and with the least additional infrastructure.
U.S. Federal and State incentives for renewable energy development [20] make this strategy profitable, and so scalable, for neighborhoods in many States. Reconomy guarantees SunMoney's value in trade of energy available from People Power Stations (PPS) in the local communities where issued in Massachusetts (generally limited by regulations to municipal boundaries) - and at a significant discount. Additionally all Reconomy members in the United States will be able to use their local SunMoney online statewide to trade goods and services.
The first developed community pilot focuses on statewide implementation in Massachusetts [21]. Reconomy has chosen Massachusetts because this State is already familiar with the proven value of community currency. Massachusetts is the home of BerkShares [22] [23], a regional community currency circulating in Berkshire County at the western end of the State (see inset map). BerkShares, similar to SunMoney, is a complementary local currency, designed for use alongside national currency. More than $4 million of goods and services have been purchased with BerkShares throughout the Berkshire County region since the introduction of the currency in 2006 because BerkShares guarantees its value in exchange for US Dollars at participating local banks and because this currency delivers a 5-10% discount on purchases from participating local merchants.
In Massachusetts, as in all States in the U.S., Reconomy will contract to provide service to members through Power Purchase Agreements. Our Massachusetts members will share Net Energy Metering (NEM) credits, in accordance with the Massachusetts Neighborhood NEM program offered by this State [24]. Under Massachusetts law, NEM credits never expire, and may be transferred between qualifying customers of the same utility and within the same municipality, service territory and ISO-NE load zone. [25] Our neighborhood PPS will offer additional compensation (including remuneration in SunMoney) to residents whom help create this energy infrastructure, such as by supplying land or rooftops for our power plants and solar arrays.
ISO-NE Map [26] of the "Independent Service Operators - New England" (ISO-NE) load zones, showing 8 areas. The 3 Massachusetts areas are the utilities's Neighborhood NEM boundaries for the purpose of sharing NEM credits for kWh produced. Mass also applies municipal boundaries as a "bright line" that citizens can easily perceive. [27]
Our Reconomy Community members will have easy access to their online marketplace through personal accounts. These accounts will feature the same Cyclos [29] trading system used in developing communities, and will be part our our global network of mutual support, guiding members in the use of both SunMoney credit and national currency, either separately or together. This will provide each member the means to trade their own goods and services, to grow their own businesses, and to acquire additional SunMoney for discounted trade of energy from their neighborhood's PPS.
Through our energy-money value loop, money that once left communities to import energy will now circulate continuously in marketplaces controlled by our members within their communities. This accomplishes not only energy self-reliance, but also empowers development of every product and service that can be sourced locally - a strategy for sustainable prosperity both locally and globally.
Reconomy Index
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About
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Strategy
SunMoney
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People Power Stations
Summary
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References
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Resources
