[Magnum44]

There is a grey space between normal life and zombie apocalypse where infrastructure just sucks. Power companies going green are degrading the grid and even preemptively instigating blackouts because they no longer meet demand. People cant afford to have their refrigerators/freezers turned off for 48 hours multiple times a year spoiling hundreds of dollars of frozen goods each time that happens. Having these backups just makes economic sense today.

[Nervous Tick]

>> There is a grey space between normal life and zombie apocalypse where infrastructure just sucks. Power companies going green are degrading the grid

EXCELLENT point.

[Pajamajan]

"Power companies going green are degrading the grid"

Hadn't thought of that.

[Myrddin]

My son lives in Shawnee, OK. When the temps dropped to subzero a couple years ago, the power went out. The family piled into their car and ran the engine for heat during the night. It was out for a week. All the food spoiled. The pipes were frozen, so no water and no sewer drainage. The pipes were damaged to the point of needing replacement. A generator would have helped to some small degree, but the house was definitely not built for the kind of temperatures that descended on the area.