Bet there are not a few residents of the D.C. area who would really like to have residential solar just now. But gasoline generators big enough to run the AC are less than $1,000, so the total cost to run such a generator for a week every other year is not too bad. My 7500 VA unit used about 15 gallons a day during the '09 ice storm and hasn't been needed since. The trick is to have enough gasoline around to run for a few days. A couple of vehicles with full tanks helps if you have a siphon. Getting a mouthful of gasoline is a younger man's game, I hope.

Natural gas powered whole house generators are an even better technical option. 10KW for about $3 to 4,000. Natural gas is usually one of the last utilities to go down in a disaster, (other than a major earthquake), as the distribution infrastructure is burred.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."