[kjam22]

I would say though that generators at home, even IF they were economical to run, couldn't hold up well to the load of running continually.

Do you have a home installed system?

[mountn man]

No I don't. Currently have a portable.

But I did stay at a Holiday in once.

But seriously, I'm a pipefitter. I've had to install generators in hospitals and technology based offices a time or 3 or 4 or...
I've also worked at coal, ng and nuke power plants. The scale and efficiency of the equipment at a commercial level brings the cost WAAAAAAYYYY down.

Most, if not all home generators use an internal combustion engine, similar to a lawn mower or even a car. They then basically add a generator (like a cars alternator) to it.

On the commercial end they use HUGE turbines, that once up and running are vastly more efficient.