I would like to power a portion of my house with a generator is that possible and what do I need to do to accomplish this in case of a power failure

I think you will get some answers if we move you to electrical. Tell us how much you are will to spend because there are tons of generators and switch gear out there. I put a 5000 watt generator in my garage (door must be open and even then its bad to run) and wired the generator to my main panel with automatic switching gear. http://www.smps.us/transferswitch.html

<Moved to electrical and lighting>