Also Conway, I am interested in your perspective on heating your home after Sandy - I can see the sense in a backup generator(one is none etc), but could you make your home more comfortable / survivable by sinking the money spent on a second generator into adding insulation and windows?

we have gone 9 days without heat in our home in below freezing conditions, but we kept our gas for hot water and our gas fire place for heat. Our house was built in the 60s but is moderately well insulated, and our experience has been that we don't need the generator to stay here.

In times of low or no gasoline to run a generator, this seems like a good thing. Your thoughts?