Controversial cleantech investor Vinod Khosla spoke at the Energy Storage Association this summer and, as usual, he made news. And argued that the smart grid is hype and predicted that embattled battery maker A123 Systems won’t exist in 10 years. At the core of Khosla’s view is that all of the smart grid efforts, from demand response to smart thermostats to dynamic pricing to advanced meter readings, don’t matter if you can store energy at around $100 per kilowatt hour. We’re a long ways from storing energy at $100 per kilowatt-hour. But, yes, if you can easily store energy, then you can forget about the demand side of the energy equation, which is essentially what the smart grid is all about—regulating demand on energy because of supply volatility owing to renewable energy introduction. Given that Khosla referred to lithium-ion batteries as “toys that can’t be deployed at scale,” I’m thinking we’ll have to make the grid smarter until we have that easy grid storage solution.