On a personal level, having a battery bank will be one of the largest expenses.

In order to know how many amp-hours of battery you will need, you need to look at your consumption.

Once this analysis starts (knowing how much draw each appliance has), you might realize that some usages can be obtained without electricity, like using a wood stove. A good item to replace is an electric hot water heater. Heating water 24/7, for the rare instances that it is needed, is ridiculous.

Aside from determining your storage (battery bank), you'll need to determine sources. Solar is great for areas with frequently clear skys. For people that are frequently under cloud cover, wind is a better option. Vertical axis wind mills can also act as a wind-break for garden areas. If you have any running water, a small hydro-power setup can be used. All of these, including bicycle power, can be fed into the same battery bank.

For other areas of energy use, where a motor would be more practical, diesel engines didn't use petroleum until Rudolf Diesel mysteriously disappeared. And, although there's too much propaganda from Big Oil against alcohol for most people to take seriously; it really is a completely viable option that could be obtained and used on the same homestead. You can even use these non-petroleum motors to top off batteries.

Most alternatives to the status quo will be more expensive, and few people are willing to trade that for the freedom it brings.

Energy independence changes everything.