White Room

By using flywheel systems to store energy, utilities can coordinate power production and demand.

GE plans to be a major producer of smart grid appliances and hopes to receive large government subsidies for their efforts.

Installing feed-in tariffs for solar power, where small-scale solar producers can sell their power back to the grid, is gaining popularity in US cities. The policy, accepted by Germany more than a decade ago, has turned the country into a solar powerhouse.

The solar economy has potential for job creation, but not as much potential as similar industry in developing countries. US solar manufacturers will employ more automated machinery in factory processes due to high labor costs in the US.