I'd say as of this week the evidence for batteries and new transmission helping out is not good. The King Island abattoir closed citing high electricity costs as a factor. Yet KI is often cited as a pioneer in the use of battery technology to store wind power. To reopen both the abattoir and the old scheelite mine will require an underwater alternating current cable from the 'big island' Tasmania. Yet Tasmania is now utterly dependent on coal fired electricity from the 'bigger island' mainland Australia. This is via the underwater Basslink direct current cable which took Tassie from 0% coal-fired dependence in 2006 to 20% in 2008.

So while batteries and new transmission seem in theory like the way of the future in practice we are going the opposite way.

There could be no better investment in America than to invest in America becoming energy independent! We need to utilize everything in out power to reduce our dependence on foreign oil including using our own natural resources. Create cheap clean energy, new badly needed green jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.The high cost of fuel this past year seriously damaged our economy and society. The cost of fuel effects every facet of consumer goods from production to shipping costs. It costs the equivalent of 60 cents per gallon to charge and drive an electric car. If all gasoline cars, trucks, and SUV's instead had plug-in electric drive trains the amount of electricity needed to replace gasoline is about equal to the estimated wind energy potential of the state of North Dakota.We have so much available to us such as wind and solar. Let's spend some of those bail out billions and get busy harnessing this energy. Create cheap clean energy, badly needed new jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. What a win-win situation that would be for our nation at large! There is a really good new book out by Jeff Wilson called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence Now. http://www.themanhattanprojectof2009.com

If you are interested in this article you might like to check out the work of Michael Shellenberger, Ted Nordhaus, and The Breakthrough Institute: www.thebreakthrough.org