"geothermaljones" writes:

See, DC is a much more efficient powersource when use in close proximity of
production.

DC *at the voltage you happen to need* is more efficient than AC,
because there are no transformer losses. But if the voltages don't
match, it's much more complicated and expensive to change voltage with
DC.

Unfortunately the DC supply to a power grid in an urban area would require
huge quantities of copper to transmit.
Now if they'd just have used more localized transformers & generation, we'd
all be saving energy.

There are probably only a few houses sharing the same pole transformer
(and thus the same 120/240 V supply). All other distribution is done at
higher voltage. To get the same efficiency (both electric and copper
usage) with DC, you'd need a source for every few houses. But
generators that small aren't very clean or efficient.

Centralized generation and AC distribution, using several levels of
voltage, makes much more sense for supplying homes.

DC is sometimes used to transmit large amount of power long distances.

Dave