[fhdkweig]

On point 1, you can pay extra to get an inverter that does "islanding mode". During an external outage the inverter stops sending power out of the house but keeps supplying power inside the house. Whole-house backup batteries such as the Tesla Powerwall (and competitors) also have this capability.

Anyone who is looking for a generator to power their house during a regional outage should look into other types of generation that will do islanding mode.