all the batteries that we have ever build combined cannot store 10 minutes of the electricity that we currently use. We need order of magnitude breakthrough with batteries first.
They had to have rotating power outages for a week or two in Japan after the earthquake because of the need to replenish those reserves.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1708167/how-to-make-lithium-batte...
Discussion:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1986640
Summary: Infusing Li-based batteries with the Tobacco Mosaic virus could boost their storage capacity up to 10x. There's one order of magnitude...