The focus on the transition to renewable energy, energy efficiency programs and legislation surrounding these areas is spurring tremendous change in the utility industry. A lot of money and effort are being funneled to the research, development and deployment of clean energy technologies. The federal debate over fuels, technologies and the legislation supporting them has reached a fever pitch. The utility industry is undergoing fundamental change. The extreme change sometimes envisioned-that utilities will disappear-is not likely. The future utility will almost certainly be a hybrid of centralized power plants and massive distributed generation, combined with a much more efficient system of both generation and consumption. But the business model of the utility and the relationship between utility and customer will be radically different. For more on this story, please visit Renewable Energy World here.