[jyl]

Has anyone heard of a battery as "surge capacity" for a generator? Idea being that generator handles the base load, while battery kicks in for momentary high loads and charge is maintained by generator. Seems would allow a smaller, more fuel-efficient generator. Akin to a hybrid car.

I figure that the average sized house with gas appliances + heating requires under 3,000 watts almost all the time (assuming sensible occupants not running AC, electric dryers, etc during power outages), but when multiple motors start at the same time that someone is using the microwave, power consumption can jump to >10,000 watts for short periods. Would be cool to handle that with a smallish generator (say 5,000 watt) instead of a >15kW generator.