"RST Engineering" wrote in message
.. .

Think about a modest solar system for lighting only and a generator for the
rest. I have 100 watts of solar panels and a small charge controller that
easily runs two 60 watt-equivalent compact fluorescent lamps that have been
lighting up my yard every night for the last several years. The battery bank
for that little solar system doubles as the starting battery for my generator.
One of those pad-mounted generators you see at Home Depot could easily handle
the machine shop tools and would probably only see a few hours of use per month.

To get an idea of solar prices, try he http://www.sunelec.com/index.html

Vaughn