Virtual currency used as alternative currency Would it be feasible for a virtual currency to be used in the same way as alternative currencies such as Berkshares and Brixton Pounds ? Furthermore, do you think it is possible to make it independent of conventional currencies such that it is held to a standard, say a basket of household goods ?
While there's no technical issue preventing the use of Bitcoin and its' associated engine for any number of alternate currency types, the problem you're likely to run into with your question is the addition of a central issuer. Bitcoin is explicitly designed for distributed issuance of funds according to a carefully designed algorithm that requires distributed proof-of-work. It would be non-trivial to chance the issuance mechanism.

That said, if you have a talented programmer, Bitcoin is open-source under the MIT license and you're welcome to modify it as you see fit, just know that it's probably not going to be as easy as your question seems to indicate it should be.