The devil is in the detail, indeed, and I certainly don't have all the answers!

For example, let us say that I am in possession of something called a One Million BTU note. Does this mean that I can literally redeem that note and receive in some form one million actual BTUs of energy? If not, then what does the One Million BTUs printed on the face of the note really mean?

What it means is that if you consume One Million BTU's you can pay for what you consumed with anything acceptable to the seller, which may be fiat money, fish, or whatever. But he will be obliged - through his and your membership of the Energy Clearing Union - to accept your note if you present it for redemption against BTU's consumed.

Note here the important distinction from a conventional - dated - debt or futures contract when you can mandate that he performs the contract and delivers money or product to you as the case may be. Redeemable Units make security of payment independent of security of supply.

In a stranded wind situation, Units redeemable in electricity would only be redeemable locally within reach of a private wire.

But Units redeemable in (say) ammonia could be issued and redeemed more widely if the stranded wind is used to fix ammonia - albeit there is an energy loss.

Note that while there is pricing, there is no "pegging" going on here.

So if gas is burnt in a CHP plant there will be the possibility of Units being issued in relation to future production of electricity and also in future production of hot air/hot water. Both may be monetised.

In the partnership structure I envisage, the gas supplier is tied in to a "community energy partnership" (an arguably optimal form of ESCO) as a supplier member, and may share proportionally with the "Operator" member in the revenues from sale of heat and electricity to "Consumer" members.

Using a "Heat Pool" model it is possible to finance retrofitting of (for example) CHP in a new way through an energy loan repayable through a "Heat Charge" to the pool by way of repayment of a loan denominated in BTUs.

As with any monetary system, there will need to be a monetary discipline over Unit issue, both in terms of transparency (who has issued what Units and what the open balances are) and provisions made into a default pool in case of default. This is where service-providers-formerly-known-as-banks could come in, with assistance from experts in the relevant field of energy production.

As carbon energy declines in availability then those holding Units would on the face of it have something more valuable, provided of course that they didn't wait too long to redeem them.

The fact that a charge/provision is made in relation to both positive and negative energy balances, would tend to concentrate a hoarder's mind, though......