Fwd: Follow up on UnmoneyConfernce conference
Chris Byrne
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Shann Turnbull" <stur...@mba1963.hbs.edu>
Date: December 16, 2008 4:34:36 AM PST
To: "'Abraham Flaxman'" <ab...@riseup.net>, "'Addy Adwell'" <ad...@riseup.net>, "'Alan Rosenblith'" <al...@shadesofgreymedia.com>, "'Alex Keeve'" <alex...@hotmail.com>, "'Amy Kirschner'" <amki...@uvm.edu>, "'Bill Aal'" <wa...@toolsforchange.org>, "'Calvin Kennedy'" <cken...@ausar.com>, "'Carl Sundberg'" <carl_sun...@yahoo.com>, "'Carol Newell'" <ly...@220cambie.com>, "'Chris Byrne'" <inq...@byrnegreen.com>, "'Chris Cook'" <coj...@hotmail.com>, "'Chris Lindstrom'" <ch...@smallisbeautiful.org>, "'Chuck Learned'" <clea...@gmail.com>, "'Dorigen Hofmann'" <dor...@cleanyield.com>, "'Ellen Brown'" <ellen...@gmail.com>, "'Eric Harris-Braun'" <g...@panix.com>, "'Ernie Yacub'" <ernie...@gmail.com>, "'Geoff Chesshire'" <ge...@dancesafe.org>, "'Heather Day'" <hr...@igc.org>, "'Hendrik vanRensburg'" <hen...@churchofBass.org>, "'James Baker'" <jba...@nwlink.com>, "'Jane Waddell'" <j...@paws.com>, "'Jim Fournier'" <j...@planetwork.net>, <john....@rsfsocialfinance.org>
Cc: "Mike Lewis" <ccel...@xplornet.com>, <stephen.de...@gmail.com>
Subject: Follow up on UnmoneyConfernce conference
Hi folks
The UnmoneyConvergence google group is no longer operative to accept the following posting:
I have posted my refereed paper presented to Heterodox economists on December 8th on “Money, Markets and Climate Change” at http://ssrn.com/abstract=1304083 . This paper provides design criteria for building a new decentralised financial system based on a negative interest rate currency that reduces the need for carbon trading or taxing as the currency can be redeemed into kWh from renewable energy. So the price of power would not increase as the cost of coal, oil and gas increased.
My power points for the presentation are posted at http://hetecon.academia.edu/documents/0009/0024/Money__Markets_and_Climate_Change.ppt
Hazel Henderson quoted from an early draft of my paper in her video address to the UNEP conference in Geneva on December 1. Her address is posted at http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/?p=1119 The section on interest free money follows:
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Meanwhile, pure information-based transaction systems will bypass Wall Street and provide the needed “bandwidth” ,interfacing with honest money. Such alternative trading systems will bring investors together with companies providing all the needed new infrastructure and production facilities to bring wind, solar, geothermal and ocean technologies to scale. For example, one of our Advisory Board members, Dr. Shann Turnbull, building on the work of the late Robert Swann and the Schumacher Society (USA) of which I am a trustee, proposes a simple shift to finance renewable energy: a unit of value based on kilowatt hours of renewably- generated electricity. This is similar to the energy-based currency proposed in the 1930s by the Technocrat movement (see Bibliography). The essence of Turnbull’s proposal would have governments issue interest-free loans directly to construct the new smart grid and renewable energy facilities in “KWH dollars,” to be repaid from the revenues of their electricity sales. Turnbull shows that if usual interest rates of 8% are removed, then wind-generated electricity is cheaper than coal, even without accounting for coal’s external costs. Germany’s Renewable Energy Act spearheaded by Herman Scheer , Ernst U. von Weizsacker and others employs similar tools.
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Hazel has also published in her “Reforming Global Markets” section my 978 words on ‘Financial Crisis Opportunities’ at http://www.ethicalmarkets.com/?p=1178#more-1178 that explains how the government could get the economy going again without going into debt.
Best season greetings to all
Shann
Shann Turnbull PhD; Principal: International Institute for Self-governance
PO Box 266 Woollahra, Sydney, Australia 1350; Ph:+612 9328 7466; Mobile +61 418 222 378
Skype and Google ID: shann.turnbull; Papers at: http://ssrn.com/author=26239