that is why i have been checking out. inverters and battery's with ways to charge them. I can ever fuel a generator with out being on the grid. knowing how to do a lot of things is a good thing to have.
There are a couple of books that cover practically all situations for "living off the grid": Back To Basics and the Foxfire series of books. The Foxfire series covers old time methods exclusively, Back to Basics covers virtually everything (power generation too).