most of us can't afford the initial cost of the systems, which have been kept up there by 1. greed, 2. politics trying to keep the technology from the masses, and 3. greed, (you can't tell me that a fourty dollar alternator and some plastic and circuitry cost twelve to twenty three hundred dollars), and that's just the generator, now let's spend another three thousand on the batteries and support electronics to tie it into your home grid, and the cost of labor for a qualified electrician to tie it in, and voila, you just spent between $3500 and $15000 which your good masters,(government), will not give you a break on, to get off the grid. Congratulations, hope your third mortgage works out well for you.