Recently, I read Jaron Lanier's latest book (see http://www.eurotrib.com/story/2013/8/11/204018/546) because an interview with Lanier led me to believe there would be a discussion of the confluence of energy, information, and economics.  Wasn't there that I could see.

R Buckminster Fuller too was interested in energy as a unit of economic value.  I would suggest that it is not energy but actually exergy, the thermodynamic term for the ability to do work, that should be the standard.  For instance, in the 2012 US energy budget, only 39% of the energy produced was used for actual work.  61% was "rejected energy," most probably waste heat and transmission losses.

I would also suggest that you take a look at the work of Ralph Borsodi and his experiment with a local currency based upon a market basket of useful goods, the Constant:  
http://www.scribd.com/doc/13266703/3-09-Ralph-Borsodi-Constant-Currency

Solar IS Civil Defense