Rafael Pezzi wrote a paper with a proposed infrastructure for a ‘peer economy’: Information Technology tools for a transition economy

Abstract:

“Although there are growing concerns regarding the eminent energy crisis followed by a discussion that is mostly focused on the development and use of new sources of energy, there is negligible
mainstream attention given to the possibility that it may not be feasible to convert all of our energy supplies to renewables while still supplying a growing demand. This article discusses this possibility with its economic effects and how Information Technology may assist in the transition to a sustainable economy while still improving the welfare of the population. This transition may be catalyzed by the implementation of peer-to-peer social networking tools designed for the purpose of cultivating popular collective intelligence, facilitating the development of self-organizing, resilient local communities.”

Some background from the author:

“I would like to bring to your attention the attached paper entitled “Information technology tools for a transition economy”. Here I suggest the development of social networking tools that may facilitate the emergence of local economic systems (local communities) that are not intrinsically dependent on a global market economy, thus, facilitating the transition to a sustainable society.

This work is in great resonance with your work at P2PFoundation.net. I hope you find it useful. Please let me know if you have any comments as this is a work in progress and I would like to hear as much criticisms, suggestions as possible.

I hope the social cloud concept may grow into a big free software project and someday become bundled with of most Linux distributions.”