Can you imagine a day when you’ll no longer need to have your home hooked up to the national power grid? Marco Krapels of Marin County, Calif. hopes that day will come sooner rather than later—at least for him. He’s a renewable energy financier who’s decked out his roof with 2.4 kilowatts worth of solar paneling. In his garage, there’s a 10-kilowatt battery for storing all that energy. Everything, including his car, runs on solar. In the long run, this independent approach to renewable energy could save a lot of money for families, cut back dramatically on greenhouse gas emissions, and reduce the national security threat associated with our over-reliance on the grid.