Wired: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now

Power to the People: 7 Ways to Fix the Grid, Now

An easy to read article that gives a good overview over current situation, in the US atleast, and pointer to the road ahead.
... regulators in dozens of states began to implement decoupling, a policy that rewards utilities for coming in below generation targets. Suddenly, companies could profit by promoting efficiency.

This quote from the article suggests the benefits of changing the behaviour of power generators from max production to max efficiency. Schemes like that would have a great impact if realised all over the world.

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