Yet another possible great use for hybrid cars: use it as a back-up generator for your house! It’s even possible that you’ll one day be able to get rebates from your electricity provider because your car produces extra energy that you don’t need.

Pacific Gas & Electric has developed Toyota Prius that can power a home and cut greenhouse gases. Not only is this good for the environment, but it can cut your electric bill, too.

Sales of hybrid cars and trucks have increased over the past few years, typically in correlation to rising energy costs. However, auto manufacturers have held off from launching large lines of hybrids due to what they say is a low level of interest on the part of consumers. Because new technology typically costs more than old, auto manufacturers believed consumers as a whole would hold off due to the higher cost of hybrid cars.

Recent process and technological improvements have lowered the cost to produces hybrids. Couple this with rising gas prices and you can see why auto manufactures are being forced to rethink their position on hybrids.

Companies such as Pacific Gas & Electric and other utilities see hybrid technology as a way to decrease their dependence of oil and gasoline and as a way to shift to more renewable sources of energy. Plug-in hybrids such as the one developed by PG&E make perfect sense to these companies: they lower oil consumption and any extra energy can be funneled from the hybrid car to the owner’s home, thus lowering other sources of energy consumption.

Most plug-in hybrid cars can be recharged from a standard electrical outlet and take energy from the home. However, craft engineers are finding various ways to convert these hybrids to be able to conduct the flow of energy in both directions. Such a car could provide energy to a home during sever weather conditions or on restricted energy usage days. Smart owners will figure out a rhythm to charging the car when electricity prices are low and redirecting the energy flow when prices are high.

Hybrid technology continues to improve. Hopefully demand will continue to spur the development of other alternatives to oil and gas. Who knows? May our children will think of gasoline fueled cars in the same way we view oil lamps. One can only hope.