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I agree with Quibbler (#4), the main advantage of AC is the efficient voltage transformer. It is more efficient to transmit DC power over long distances than AC power of the same voltage. It is also more efficient to transmit high voltage power over long distances. The problem is that it is very inefficient to change the voltage of DC power, so it ends up being more efficient to go with AC.

I disagree with Squidocto (#8). Over at the Tesla Motors website, there was a discussion about this, and the engineers there realized that even with the best equipment you should always use AC for changing voltage. So even if you have DC equipment like a solar panel charging a DC battery electric car, it's more efficient to convert the DC solar energy to AC, change the voltage, then back to DC to charge the battery (then back to AC to power their AC motor!) than to stick with DC the whole way through. Also, my family lived off the grid for most of my life, integrating hydro, propane, solar, and wind power with batteries via an inverter. We used a big efficient inverter for AC without a problem.