Hybrid Living

The fundamentals simply don't justify current price levels. "By every supply and demand standard, the oil market is nowhere as tight as it was in 2004 [when oil was fetching about $50 a barrel], yet prices are nearly double now," says Tim Evans, an energy analyst at Citigroup Global Markets. One factor contributing to the higher cost of oil is the dollar's ongoing decline.

But Xcel's technology won't include a cutting-edge power plant known as Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle, or IGCC, until at least 2016, Kelly said.

Some environmentalists consider IGCC plants to be the gold standard of coal power, and critics of the proposed Desert Rock Energy Project in New Mexico say the plant should be built with IGCC technology.

Shortages have caused long lines at filling stations and disrupted trucking in export-driven coastal provinces. The country's state-owned oil companies blame a scarcity of refining capacity due to price controls, but some customers and Chinese media have accused them of creating a phony crisis to force regulators to raise retail prices.

The microgrid enables consumers to see how much power is being generated and its source, how it is being used and the amount of energy stored in the system.