The fact that big power plants are more efficient is irrelevant because the total consumption and production of power only goes up. Every year we burn more fossil fuels than the previous.
More efficient burning of fossil fuels doesn't mean green or sustainable or renewable. It just means more people can exist at the status quo.
Now I don't want to come across as anti tech or progress. I'm the opposite. I want us to finally have some progress. I think the green movement is inhibiting progress.
The whole green movement only assuages conscience. It doesn't actually fix anything. Especially hybrid and electric cars. They're still fossil fuel powered. Batteries are some of the most toxic items to produce and dispose of on the planet. Most importantly they reinforce the current mentality, sprawl, consume, trash. At our current tech level anything other than reduce or reuse is a net loss. While we need to keep working on solutions, researching recycling and power tech, it annoys me that people think options we have now are solutions. It's impossible for me to offset the 10 gallons of gasoline I burn a week through any "green" methods let alone the electricity my house uses.
Not buying useless crap, fixing broken things, and giving things away rather than throwing them away do more good than anything the "green" industry will sell you.
Plus TEPCO's fuck up at fukushima sent us back decades but that's a different rant.
Humans are natural animals and even though we like to think of ourselves as better than other animals we're not. None of this is going to change until we have a mass die off. It's the natural cycle with any animal and resources.
