[CydeWeys]

Surge protectors are not rated for lightning. There are protection systems for lightning (ham radio operators use them), but they're quite a bit more expensive and also involve driving a copper stake into the ground to establish a preferential path for the lightning.

[olyjohn]

Which is how grounding systems work in houses as well. Where I live, it's required code to have a 6 foot grounding rod driven into the ground, connected to your breaker panel. That's why modern houses in North America have 3 prong outlets instead of just 2.

[robocat]

New Zealand household grounding legislation[1] also allows a long horizontal grounding wire, or connection to the reinforcing within concrete foundations.

I've only seen rods - likely the easiest solution but also maybe I've not had much exposure to newer builds.

Grounding in very dry areas is more tricky, so US legislation will likely be different in very dry areas - maybe requiring a maximum resistance and testing?

AFAIK in New Zealand neutral is not tied/bonded to earth at the house but only at the substation. That's to (1) avoid the house earth floating to mains voltage in a specific double fault situation (neutral return failed open circuit plus house earthing failure equals danger since the outside of metal appliances are usually earthed), and (2) avoid corrosion due to long term leakage currents. We've also got less tingly 240 Volts here.

I tried to search for some better info on earthing but only found an unreliable source that said:

  There is not one standard ground resistance threshold that is recognized by all agencies. However, the NFPA and IEEE have recommended a ground resistance value of 5.0 ohms or less. The telecommunications industry has often used 5.0 ohms or less as their value for grounding and bonding.

[1] https://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1997/0060/...