The first thing is that there are so many things that have to be combined. I don't want to have a conversation about renewables versus gas. These technologies need to be combined. We need a tremendous amount of energy supply. A lot of our debates are trivial.
We need to have a variety in our system, to build a system that has multiple nodes and a wide range of supply, where demand is managed in real time.
There are examples of systems being developed around the world, and not only in places like Germany: you see it very often in the emerging economies. Brazil and China are running big experiments at the city level, which also include giving more autonomy to mayors to run their cities in a way that is more sustainable. That's a manageable unit, and I know that takes place in North America too.
Ultimately what you want is devices that will reward the delivery of public policy and allow energy conservation. You want a variety of energy supply to produce a more robust energy system while delivering emission reductions. That is perfectly possible. It's not insurmountable. They're not opposing objectives, and we have all the technologies we need right now to begin that process. They're just not very well combined in any part of the world. There are good examples at the city level, but there are very few examples at the national level that you could point to as a wholly successful system.