Man, right now I have my index finger and my middle finger that I keep wrapped around eachother. Very rarely do we get power outages in the desert, but a small generator would be smart to have.
Emergency Power:
- Short Outages (have not decided what this is yet): D Cell powered air pumps with airstones
- Longer Outages (have used this for a known outage that lasted 10 hours): Generator
Zombie Apocalypse: Pick up the Zombie Survival Guide! Everyone knows the #1 firearm you should have in this situation is the Ruger Mini-14!!! And legal in CA. I prefer the synthetic stock to the wood...
Currently im using a Onan 7500 watt generator when the power goes out for long term outages ... Once the rest of my Uranium-235 arrives from mexico in a couple of weeks my Russian scientists can construct the final stages of my Steam Turbine Nuclear Reactor I have buried in my back yard !!!! As far as the Zombie Apocalypse goes ... I will probably end up canning the fish and keeping them for food for a later date seens how we have enough guns and ammo to last about 8 months .....
Reason why you cant take it off the grid is the solar wont be able to proved the needed power surge to items that needs alot of electricity to start ie, refrigerators, vacuum, microwaves, etc.
It is possible to take it completely off the grid but you need stacks of 12v batteries connected to the solar but this solution is expensive and you need to replace the stack of batteries every few years.