[Haraldur]

Why does a person's amount of energy credits for each balanced load period replenish when the period ends without having remaining energy credits from the previous period added? Would this not prevent people from saving up for things which inevitably would be too expensive in energy credits to buy in one blanced load period?

Also, how long would this balanced load period be?

[Tangerine]

It's too difficult to tell at the present time. The amount of energy credits we'll be issued (if we'll be issued anything like them - that is) will be decided by the population - or a group of intellectuals in the particular field - when the time arises for them to do so. The same applies with the replenishing period of Energy Credits too.

The Energy Credit system is probably only used to stop idiotic over-usage of an abundant resource - not to actually limit an individual in any way. Hence the exhaustion of all your credits will probably only happen if you want to abuse the system by say... Ordering 100 000 garden gnomes.

[Haraldur]

For your yacht example, I was thinking more on the lines of an extreme luxury, say, a diamond necklace/whatever. I know that diamond necklaces will not be expensive, because there is no scarcity of them (and they can be made artificially), but I would imagine there would be something similar. Some small thing which takes a lot of energy to produce.

The amount of credits in the system will decrease for the duration of the balanced load period anyway. What would be difficult about a system which added credits to someone rather than dictating the exact amount of credits someone has?

What sort of imbalances would these be?

Could you not imagine a scenario nearing the end of the balanced load period where people check how much they have left? It would then be in their interests to consume their remaining credits before the system is refreshed. This would result in a temporary demand surge, as people spend all the credits they have left from the previous cycle. For that short period, demand might even outpace supply for goods, making some effectively temporarily scarce.

Although, all this could be avoided if the date where the credits are refreshed is different for each person, rather than the same for everyone. Then there would be similar demand throughout a "cycle", although the cycle would be different for different people.

Hmmm... I should have asked this before: Will the dates for the refreshing of credits be the same for everyone or will everyone have their own days for credit refresh (like their birthday for example)?

[Haraldur]

I meant it might be a bit like Christmas: "We are having our credits refreshed today, so let us buy those luxuries we want before we refresh (let us buy those luxuries we want with currency which will no longer exist tomorrow)." This would mean that for the one day before the change, many people might leave their homes for a day of shopping, effectively for free, except they cannot go over a certain amount.

If this happens all in one day, then the consumption data, which I think would be daily, would not be fast to cope with the surge in demand, so on that day things would be reliant on the figures of the last year.

Also, the transport systems might become congested, which would temporarily decrease the efficiency of the system.

Would not the information of consumption and production be independent of the credits an individual spends, would not those be measured purely from the purchases of goods and their production, and not from the amount of credits in an individual's certificate/card/whatever.

As for the accounting nightmare, would computers not be processing the information anyway?

[Tangerine]

You won't need to go to a store.

[Haraldur]

I cannot answer when you say that I have an ingrained thinking, nor do I know about behaviour in a situation of abundance apart from that there is a difference, so I will accept that.

It will all be part of a single, integrated accounting system that will allow people to keep track of all energy both produced and consumed. Remember that "energy credits" are not actual things, merely a measurement, like degrees or kilometres.

OK, it is just that you implied that it would affect the measurement of consumption and production.

I do not expect the advantage to be great for a balanced load period of over a year: I originally thought of it as being monthly, when it might be an advantage.

Thanks for the answers.

[Haraldur]

Oh, sorry, all I meant was that it was impossible for me to debate that point further because I would be crippled by my ingrained thinking, and my ignorance of the behaviour of people in an abundance situation. I was not insulted at all.