The “@Home” supplement to the September 29th, 2007 Seattle Post Intelligencer contained this article

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/333242_backuppower29.html

about setting up a solar-fed battery system as a backup to municipal power in the event an emergency — like the windstorms that deprive thousands of Seattle-area homes of power for several days last year.

Doesn’t this also make sense in the U.S. Midwest, where ice storms down power lines, in California, where earthquakes down power lines, in regions where power is intermittant or is expected to be in short supply, etc.?