Interesting article. Its about time that people are talking seriously about distributed power systems.

In addition to having plug-in hybrids storing energy for the grid, solar panels, ground heat pumps and small wind turbines can be added to every house. Energy can also be stored mechanically as well as in batteries by winding springs, raising a weight or filling a water bladder which can be slowly unwound, lowered or drained to turn a generator when the energy is required. The technology is available to solve our energy problems in 10 years, if we collectively decided to spend several hundred billion dollars a year on renewable energy instead of on the military.

Of course it doesn't help that a distributed power generation system and electric cars do not directly benefit the two very powerful industries of energy and oil.