I've been tossing the idea of a solar power setup. We have a southern facing back yard with a large surface area on the barn/garage roof that is ideal for photovoltaic. A friend did a similar setup, where it just turns back his meter(no batteries) He pays about 1 dollar a month in the summer for all electrical stuff, his initial cost wasabout 25k(with tax rebates). In the summer they have air conditioning running all the time, because they live in the Sacramtento area. He also runs his lanscaping buisness out of two buildings on his property.
I figure if we got space heaters for the rooms, our gas bill would drop quite a bit in the winter. Also they are starting to come out with electric hiway commute cars. By plugging in a car to commute my 50 miles a day, I could save 2-300 in gas a month. Also save around 200 for the electric bill. It doesn't take long with our current prices to recover the initial investment, plus the ability not to rely on foreign oil would be great! I also like making the power company pay me when the meter spins backwards!