Call it the democratization of wind, sun, and rain: You catch it, you keep it. With a residential turbine on your roof or in your backyard, subsidized in part by tax rebates, you (and your accountant) might find a way to break even in a few years.

In a year or so, for example, you might want to charge your Chevrolet Volt, without paying NStar for the privilege.

Enter Envision Solar International Inc. (envisionsolar.com), which this year plans to market a carport, called the LifePort, which has solar panels on its roof.

Read my Boston Globe column this week: Power up, with juice from the yard – The Boston Globe.