Note that the title of energy efficiency on this thread is actually the most prominent thing all of us can do in the shorter term.
On average, Australia's housing industry builds glorified wooden tents that are wasteful, then compound things by putting in progressively larger devices (HVAC) to deal with the shittiness of build.
If we had some decent government policy on domestic building standards (commercial buildings have NABERS) then most places could probably install a fairly small solar + battery system as a network resource that also benefits the consumer.
Distributed Energy Resources (and their Providers - called DERPs *snigger*) are the next step to a resilient grid.
Ask anyone selling power back to the grid. Oh wait that's me!
The replacement in inefficient old houses with modern energy efficient houses is an interesting conundrum. At what point does inefficiency justify the replacement energy costs?
And then we get into the benefits of retrofitting, insulation etc
It is the same argument that is in agriculture and irrigation, as the cost of water/limits on water usage increase the justification of open channels vs pipes vs the next level
It is why I have always like James Hanson's carbon fee and dividend approach. Tax the carbon and pass out the "dividend" to each individual so they can make choices.