The reality is that oil is no longer priced in dollars: dollars are priced in oil.
In a world after peak oil the net production/consumption ratio for oil, for any country with its own currency, becomes a major factor in that nation's trade balance and strategic petroleum reserves along with domestic oil reserves, to the extent that there is swing capacity, come to have a role comparable to gold and foreign currency reserves in the maintenance of the value of that nation's currency.
To the extent that energy is "fungible" wind and solar capacity move a nation towards a positive trade balance and serve as energy "gold standards" in that, like gold, the source of the energy is not consumed. Were the US to move to 30% renewable energy generation it would have a comparable decline in oil imports.
Rather than being a deep insight, this might be an observation simple enough to be readily comprehensible by a large number of people and it could appeal directly to the "gold bugs". It also makes more obvious that the world is already partly on an "energy standard", just as it is very partly on a gold standard. Money is ultimately valued in terms of what it will buy and how well it stores that value. What money can buy, for purposes of relative currency values, is the sum total of international trade. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
The contrast between gold and oil as de facto currency reserves then becomes instructive.
In fact I am proposing an energy standard, not an oil standard. That oil versus dollar phrase is just a useful metaphor, I guess.
The key point at issue here is the difference between a Unit of currency (or money's worth) and an abstract Unit of measure or Value Standard.
Units of currency would be based upon energy use value, and could take one of many forms, such as a Unit redeemable in payment for electricity use; a Unit redeemable in payment for natural gas, one for diesel, or any other fuel, and even a Unit redeemable in payment for an hour of standardised/specified manpower (Keynes' unqualified labour).
A Unit redeemable in payment for crude oil would not be particularly useful as a currency because of the plethora of types and origins of crude oil.
All of these energy-based currency Units would be exchangable for other forms of value and conveniently priced by reference to a Value Standard consisting of an absolute unit of energy of a suitably relevant amount.
This 'Value Standard' would be a standard unit of measure for Value, in the same way that a Kilogram is a standard unit of measure for Mass, or a Metre a standard unit of measure for Length.
The reason gold is IMHO pretty useless as a Value Standard (as opposed to being the basis of a currency with some credibility) is that it has little or no value in use, and therefore (say) one gramme of 24 carat gold would not be particularly helpful or relevant to anyone as a pricing reference. "Any economic unit can emit money. The serious problem is to get it accepted" Hyman Minsky
