直流微電網可以幫助確保穩定和高效的智能能源

　　Thomas Edison，除了支持直流配電在臭名昭著的“電流的戰爭“特斯拉和西屋的觀點對能源供應和可持續發展，是政策發展到今天驚人的相似。他贊成使用當地的發電，這將減少直流輸電損耗，并著迷于利用可再生能源，如風能，太陽能和潮汐的前景。

　　當然，今天人們越來越關注化石燃料的未來及其對環境的影響，這正是政策制定者對可再生能源的關注。同時，本地發電–是否連接到主電網的孤島已經成為實用和經濟上可行的技術進步帶來了小型光伏陣列和風力渦輪機在企業、金融及小農場，和一些房主。從這些發電機的輸出通常是DC，必須在適當的頻率和電壓轉換成AC之前，它可以被送入本地線路電源。用于實現這一點的功率調節電路消耗了寶貴的收獲能量的百分之幾。如果可以消除一個直流-交流逆變器的需要，可以節省能源

　　Since Edison’s time， electricity consumption has increased significantly; in particular， through growing use of equipment such as PCs， mobile chargers， flat-panel televisions， and small office machines that are fundamentally DC-powered systems. Moreover， incandescent lighting is being phased out in favor of DC-powered LED replacements. Energy saving variable-frequency drives in appliances that traditionally contained AC induction motors such as washing machines or refrigerators now convert the AC line supply to DC before reconstructing an AC waveform at the right frequency to achieve the desired motor speed. In the longer term， the outlook for widespread use of plug-in hybrid or electric vehicles will further shift the balance of demand towards native DC loads that can operate more efficiently from a DC power source， eliminating the need for an AC/DC power supply at the input. The Electrical Power Research Institute （EPRI） estimates the efficiency gain for direct use of on-site renewable energy without conversion to AC could be up to 15%.

　　Today’s AC power grid， however， represents an enormous investment in equipment and technology. Moreover， vast quantities of appliances are currently in use that have been designed to run from a high-voltage AC supply， and would need to be adapted to run from a DC supply， or otherwise replaced. Consequently， a revolutionary change to adopt DC distribution is impractical.