I read about this guy in The Plungers and the Peacocks-Dana Thomas. He started a pretty big movement during the Great Depression around the idea of a "new money" (sound familar?) based on units of energy such as Joules and Ergs. https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.eoht.info/page/Howard+Scott&sa=U&ei=1gHPUpG6KOrd2AXghIGADQ&ved=0CBMQFjAD&sig2=cUKdiH1afhud-PI_Q0cILg&usg=AFQjCNH103dR1mgWjouIM3luex-0_zda-g
